


Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: Seven Swords

by dfox300



Category: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Super Sentai Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24807622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dfox300/pseuds/dfox300
Summary: A re-write of the series with a seventh member. For years, the samurai of the Shiba Clan had protected the world from Gedoushuu, monsters that live in the Sanzu River. In the year 2009, the 18th generation of samurais have gathered to continue their clans' mission, eventually joined by a 'blacksmith' and a sushi seller, but not everything is what it seems...
Kudos: 6





	1. Act 1: Gallant Appearance Of The Five Samurai

_[Crevice], that is the space between our world and the next one. The entrance and exit for monsters, that is why you should never look into them, for beyond the crevice exists the Gedoushuu from the Sanzu River…_

* * *

A young boy bounces a baseball against a wall of a building in an abandoned portside industrial area, wondering how much more he would need to practice before he is finally good enough to be his team's main pitcher. As he daydreams about throwing the first pitch in the upcoming tournament, his hand slipped, and the baseball flew into a narrow gap between the building and a cement pillar right next to it.

The young boy groaned as he went over to retrieve the ball, unaware that someone, or something, was watching him from within the gap.

"Come on… Come on…"

Just as the boy finally grabbed his baseball, a foot nearly stomped down on his hand. Shocked, the boy withdrew his hand and fell backwards, just as a red glow engulfed the gap and, to his horror, creatures of unknown origins emerged in swarms, surrounding the frightened boy. Their faces consists only of only a large lamprey-like mouth with fangs all around, their heads resembled anemones and they were dressed in dirty yellow and black tunics resembling. Each of them wielded a crude-looking blade that seemed to drip with ichor.

Just as one of them made to cut down the boy, something small but burning hotter than ordinary fire attacked the creatures, slicing through the front row and distracting them long enough for an older man in a yukata to swiftly snatched the boy away from them.

"Run away! Come!"

Holding the boy close to him, the older man made his way to a young man dressed mostly in red while as the small object that had ravaged the creatures came to a rest in his open palm, revealing itself to be some sort of sentient, mechanical lion that folded in on itself into a pentagram bearing the kanji [ **火** ] on it in red.

As the creatures recovered, the young man revealed a phone-like device in his right hand, which then opened up to form a brush of sorts. As he did so, two figures dressed all in black like the kuroko of kabuki theatre suddenly appeared and hurled smoke grenades at the creatures, causing them to back off.

When the smoke cleared, the young man had transformed into a red-clad warrior with the same kanji he had written now imposed upon his full-head helmet.

It was at this point the older man, having sent the boy running to safety, stepped forward to address the creatures. His name was Kusakabe Hikoma, a retainer of the Shiba Clan and the guardian of the current Clan Head.

"Gedoushuu- _domo_ , listen well! Standing before you is the descendant of the samurai who obliterated your kind three hundred years ago, the Eighteenth Head of the Shiba Clan, ShinkenRed, Lord Shiba Takeru!"

"Shi-ba?" one creature asked.

"Shin-ken Red…" another snarled

"Now, Nanashi-renju, will you flee in terror back into the crevice, or would you prefer to become rust on the blade of my lord?"

"Jii," the red-clad warrior, ShinkenRed, interrupted.

"Yes?"

"Too long."

"B-But, before you fight, first, we must…"

ShinkenRed took a disk-like object from a holder attached to his belt and loaded it onto the handle of his sword before drawing the weapon out.

"I'm going forth."

With that, ShinkenRed dashed towards the Nanashi-renju, quickly and gracefully slicing his way through their numbers despite being outnumbered, showing off his skills while the Nanashi were completely unable to land even a scratch on him. At one point, five Nanashi members find their attacks being parried by ShinkenRed all at the same time before he knocks them aside and cuts them down one by one. Even an ambush from underwater failed to faze ShinkenRed as he almost casually turned around to slash the two Nanashi ambushers, sending them back into the water, before turning his attention back to the others.

Once the Nanashi's numbers had been dwindled significantly, ShinkenRed loads another disk onto his sword. The disk was red and bore the image of a lion, and upon spinning it, ShinkenRed's sword was immediately engulfed in flames, which he used to quickly destroy the remaining Nanashi. With one final, fiery slash, every remaining Nanashi member exploded into ashes.

"Ah, _tono-sama_ , another splendid performance. Simply splendid… Jii-san believe this is a result of my devotion in raising you," Hikoma said as ShinkenRed de-transformed back to his civilian identity of Shiba Takeru, who accepted a cup of tea from one of the black-clad servants while taking a towel from the other.

"Still, given the frequency of their appearances, this means _their_ revival is probably near," Hikoma continued, his tone changing to one of concern.

Takeru did not reply as he wiped the sweat off himself while maintaining a stoic expression the whole time.

"We should make the first move and assemble the Shinkengers-"

"Enough of that," Takeru said at last and turned away from Hikoma.

"But, _tono-sama_ , you must not underestimate the Gedoushuu! Someday, a time will come when you cannot handle them alone! That is why… Those four were raised to be samurai! They are waiting for the day they can fight be your side as loyal retainers."

"At any rate, I'm fine by myself. Besides, things like 'loyalty' or 'retainers', this isn't a period drama!"

Finishing the tea, Takeru returned the cup to the kuroko.

"I'm heading back," he said to them and Hikoma.

"Whay are you saying? If you say that, then that means your period has already passed, lord!" Hikoma called out to Takeru as the latter was walking away.

Hikoma's words struck a nerve in Takeru, who turned around and half-threw the towel he was still holding on to at Hikoma.

"Whose fault is that?!" he snapped at his guardian.

"Your recent behavior has Jii worried! Please, wait!" Hikoma scolded back as the two kuroko tried to calm him down while Takeru walked away.

All this time, the four were unaware of a sinister pair of eyes that had been watching the entire event from the gap, though its owner made no move to attack them despite their backs turned towards him…

* * *

Deep within the realm of the dead, on the banks of the Sanzu River, Hone no Shitari ( _Triumphant Bones_ ) chuckled at what he had just witnessed through the gap of his staff. An octopus-like Gedoushuu who had been around for quite some time, he was about to take his leave when a sound caught his attention.

Turning towards the Sanzu River, Shitari noticed the waters of the normally calm Sanzu River starting to churn.

"Ooh, it seems they've finally awakened, eh?" he said to himself.

Geysers suddenly exploded all around the Sanzu River as an old, eerie junk emerged from beneath the water while an equally eerie shamisen music could be heard emitting from it.

"Ah, the Rokumon-sen, at long last…" Shitari commented before jumping into the Sanzu River and swam towards the junk.

Within the junk, a lone female humanoid creature resembling a mollusk/sea slug and dressed in robes continued to play her shamisen in silence as Shitari climbed aboard.

"Ooh, it's been a long time, hasn't it, Usukawa Dayu?"

The one called Usukawa Dayu ( _Thin-skinned Courtesan_ ) did not reply, though she did give Shitari a slight nod without stopping her playing of the shamisen.

"Ooh, I don't see Doukoku. That is weird… Didn't the ship rise because he woke up?"

"Who knows? I am not Doukoku's accessory," Dayu retorted in an almost nonchalant tone.

"Come now, I didn't say that… Still, only your music and sake can calm Chimatsuri Doukoku, ha, ha-ha," Shitari explained when…

"You're too noisy, Shitari… I am right here," a menacing voice is heard.

Shitari turned around to see a lobster/demon-like humanoid emerge from the back of the ship, carrying a frightful-looking sword while casually ripping off the straw curtain that hung from the doorway simply because it got caught in one of the spines of his body. This intimidating figure was the one Shitari had been looking for: Chimatsuri Doukoku ( _Bloodbath Wailing_ ).

And he was in a foul mood.

"Maybe I should wake myself up by splitting that ridiculously large head of yours? Your skull might make a fine bowl for drinking sake…" he commented.

"Ooh ah… Seems like you are in a bad mood! Hey, someone! Fetch the sake for Doukoku!"

Two Nanashi emerged from the waters and climbed aboard the junk carrying sake and a large bowl. The one holding the sake bottle nervously poured its contents into the bowl, both Nanashi not daring to look up at Doukoku's face as the leader of the Gedoshuu sat down at his favourite corner of the ship. True enough, Doukoku began to calm down once he had his fill of the sake.

"Seems your body, which had been split apart all those years ago, has finally been restored, Doukoku…" Shitari said.

"Damn right it is. It was a lot of work! It's that damn Shiba clan's fault! Well, I was at least able to kill the head of the Shiba clan while crippling his damned retainers, so I shall let this pass…"

Shitari gulped.

"Ooh, well, oh no.., See, Doukoku, I was peering through the crevices and, well, the Shiba Clan still exists."

Dayu's music stopped mid-note as Doukoku slowly looked up at Shitari.

"Come again?" Dayu asked.

"The successor of the Shiba clan, he survived… And he is already a Shinkenger…" Shitari explained as he fearfully looked away from Doukoku, whose rage and bloodlust was starting to build up, and building up fast.

"Then, Shitari… Are you saying that… I GOT BEATEN?!"

Shitari flinched as Doukoku hurled the bowl to the floor while the two Nanashi quickly backed away for fear of having Doukoku's sword getting intimate with their necks.

"Wait, no! No! No! That isn't what I meant!" Shitari tried to explain as he back away from the raging Doukoku as well.

Splashing sound is heard as someone else boards the Rokumon Junk. This visitor was a strange one, habing a red upper torso and a blue lower torso which consists of a dress-like appendage that also bore a huge, smiling second face on it. If one were to look at him upside down, his upper torso resembled an angry face instead.

"What is all this? I came to celebrate because I heard the general had finally awakened… But this scene looks more like a funeral! What happened?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A SHITTY THING HERE IN MY PRESENCE!" Doukoku exploded as he stomped down hard, causing the junk to start swaying violently and scaring the absolute crap out of Shitari and the two Nanashi.

Once the swaying stopped, Shitari quickly took control of the situation.

"Hey, you, Kagekamuro, no? Go away for a bit to the human world. Collect some screams and despair for our general to calm his mood," he said to the newcomer.

Kagekamuro ( _Shadow Pocket_ ) smirked.

"A distraction for the general, eh? Very well, I accept!" he said confidently before turning to leave.

As Kagekamuro jumped off the junk, Dayu gave a small chuckle, picked up her shamisen and struck a new note…

* * *

"Hey, Zenjiro, how's the Shishi Origami?"

A young man with an unkempt, short taper cut in his early twenties wearing a black unzipped windbreaker over a dark grey t-shirt looked up from the worktable as Takeru and Hikoma entered the workshop located at the back end of the Shiba mansion.

"Just a few scratches and a loose tooth. Should not take long and… Done," the young man replied as he dropped a small brush on the table while the Shishi Origami transformed into its lion form and flew into Takeru's hands before its owner started playing with it.

"Would you look at that. He looks good as new. Are you sure you did not replace the entire thing?"

The young man, Zenjiro laughed.

"C'mon, Shiba- _tono_ , you should know that the Origami cannot be replaced, only healed. Once destroyed, they're gone for good, we can't even make a new one. Which is why my ancestors, minus the tenth, would be horrified if they saw the list behind me."

Zenjiro jerked a thumb at the direction of a whiteboard with many pieces of papers bearing drawings of mechanical animals with a corresponding disk held against it by magnets. Beneath each paper were writings indicating some kind of status.

All together, there were twenty-four, but only six were listed as active, which consists of a lion, a dragon, a turtle, a bear, a monkey and a rhinoceros beetle. The rest were listed as either inactive, missing or destroyed, and in the case of the picture of a bull, it was listed as "too dangerous, keep sealed at all cost", which caused Takeru to stare at it quizzically.

"Seriously, it really shows how high the stakes of the Shiba Clan's mission was. Only six out of the original twenty-four Origamis my ancestors helped create are still available, yet the Gedoushuu's numbers do not seem to have an end. It's like a bad horror movie with sixteen sequels, and now we're approaching the seventeenth and running out of cast members."

Takeru shrugged.

"Well, at least I can see why the previous head wanted your clan back, though it did not end as we wanted it… Still, I am glad that you decided to stay and help as much as you can despite your initial reluctance, Zenjiro," Hikoma said.

"I don't know. It just feels wrong for me to even be here- Oi, _tono_ , what are you doing?"

Takeru was moving the owl picture from 'inactive' to 'active'.

"Zenjiro, you still have the Fukurou Origami with you," he said to Zenjiro when he was done.

A dark look fell over Zenjiro's face as his initial cheer vanished while taking out an object that resembled Takeru's Shishi Origami in its inactive form, except it was trapezium in shape and was black in colour, bearing the kanji of [ **月** ] on it.

"It won't do much to aid you. It only listens to me, and I can't convince it to go to your side," he said as he placed it on the table, where it 'unfolded' itself to form an owl.

"Does it even matter? You can command it yourself to aid our lord in battle."

"You mean to stand beside Shiba- _tono_ in the field? Me, a member of the Yanagi Clan?"

"Have some pride in your lineage, Zenjiro…"

"There is no pride when you have a traitor who nearly ended the world with his selfish desires for an ancestor," Zenjiro replied coldly.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. Takeru and Hikoma looked at each other uncomfortably, but then Zenjiro suddenly perked up.

"Now, if you do not mind, I have a craving for curry. Can I leave the mansion for a while?"

"We already told you, the front door's opened for you on both sides."

"Just make sure you come back by night."

Zenjiro nodded before grabbing a baseball cap and leaving the room. Once they were alone, Takeru and Hikoma sighed.

"Zenjiro… Seems like he cannot let go of his family's legacy," Hikoma said at last.

"Why would he be so held up by something that happened more than a hundred years ago?"

"It's not just him. After the betrayal of its tenth successor, the Yanagi Clan was temporarily exiled, but members snuck back into the Shiba territory to help defeat the traitor. They were welcomed back as a result, but instead of returning to their status as a retainer of the Shiba Clan, they swore never to take up a blade again, choosing to aid the Shiba from the shadows instead. It was quite a blow to the strength of the Shinkengers, considering that the Yanagi Clan weren't just skilled swordsmen, but also responsible for recruiting the Sakakibara Clan to aid them in creating the Origami."

"And this oath to never wield a sword again lasted even to this day?"

"Yes, _tono-sama_."

Takeru sighed.

"Perhaps it is for the best, then…"

* * *

At an outdoor kabuki theatre, a young man practiced on his own, unaware of another, older man approaching him from behind. By the time he sensed his prescence, the older man was already behind him.

"Ryuunosuke," the older man called to the younger man.

"Father?" the young man responded as he got down to rest in a kneeling position as his father walked up to him.

"Please work hard on today's performance… Because it could be your last."

"Eh?"

A confused Ryuunosuke removed the kabuki headgear he had been wearing and stared at his father, who took something out from his yukata and held it out to his son.

It was a hexagon-shaped object bearing the kanji [ **水** ] on it, coloured in dark blue. As Ryuunosuke accepted it, his father knelt down in front of him.

"It seems the time is near. Our Ikenami Clan has, for generations, served the Shiba Clan. It is all that I have taught you. When the time comes, no matter when it is, go and become a katana for your lord. All your unknown comrades probably feel the same way…"

"Yes, father," Ryuunosuke replied as he traced the kanji on the object with his fingers…

* * *

"Come, now, everyone, take turns," a pretty and gentle-looking young woman with long hair said as tried her best to appease the children surrounding her at a pre-school center.

"Hey, Mako-sensei, come on…"

"Everyone, let's all play. Everyone together…"

Unknown to the children, inside the pocket of their teacher's jacket was a circle-shaped object that bore a pink-coloured kanji of [ **天** ]…

* * *

"Woah, Chiaki, you're awesome," a high school student commented as he and a group of young people surrounded an older youth playing _Tekken_ in an arcade.

"Way to go, you won the tenth round already!" another commented.

"I know, right? This is my special training!" the older youth, who had a friendly demeanor, replied while a square-shaped object hung from his belt bearing the kanji of [ **木** ]…

* * *

In the outskirts of a small town bordering a bamboo forest, a young girl sat outside a bamboo crafts shop playing a flute. Beside her was a letter bearing the words "to Kotoha, from Mitsuba" and worn around her neck was a triangle-shaped object which had on it the kanji of [ **土** ]…

* * *

"Hmm… Seems like I can fix this disk after all, but what does it do? " Zenjiro commented to himself as he stared at a cracked disk in his hands while the Fukurou Origami stays perced on his shoulders, staring curiously at an empty food box with the remnants of curry on the worktable…

* * *

To detect any intrusions by the Gedoushuu, the Shiba Clan had planted several special bells around the country that will react to the presence of the enemy and transmit that information as Mojikara ( _Word Power_ ) back to the Sukima ( _Crevice_ ) Sensor located at the Shiba Mansion.

Right now, one of these bells located near an outdoors riverside café was starting to pick up the presence of an impending intrusion as a couple walked past it.

Without warning, something grabbed the foot of the man, causing him to turned around just in time to see Kagekamuro emerge from the gaps of the boardwalk along with several Nanashi. The woman screamed, only to be knocked to the ground by the Nanashi and given a fatal stomp on the head as Kagekamuro slashed the man's stomach apart before dropping his corpse.

"Well then, shall we go?" Kagekamuro said out loud as the Nanashi went on the attack, cutting down every human in sight while chaos spreads throughout the area.

Meanwhile several crows, frightened by the appearance of the Gedoushuu, took flight immediately, but one particular crow flew a different direction from the others, towards the direction of the Shiba Mansion at the outskirts of the city…

* * *

" _Tono_!"

Takeru, who was playing with the Shishi Origami, looked up to see Hikoma approaching with his sleeves rolled up and carrying a longbow and a quiver with four arrows in it, followed by Zenjiro who had a crow perched on his shoulders.

"It's the Gedoushuu, but…" Zenjiro's voice trailed off.

"It's not only the Nanashi-renju, but there is an even greater power with them: An Ayakashi has become active," Hikoma explained.

"Ayakashi?"

"Ichikuro here gave me a description. According to the records, this one is called Kagekamuro," Zenjiro said as the crow on his shoulders held out a drawn picture of Kagekamuro in the Shiba Clan Records for Takeru to see.

"You've been using your personal crow spies again, I see," Takeru commented.

"The Sukima Sensor can only detect presence. My crows can give us a visual description if they are in the area. Except I only have six of them and they can't be everywhere at once…"

"This Ayakashi has appeared before, first during the time of the fourth generation of the Shinkengers, then the sixth and the thirteenth. Not exactly powerful, but each time he appeared, he would destroy several villages and towns before retreating back to the Sanzu River when he believes he is going to be defeated by the Shinkengers," Hikoma explained.

"Then let's make sure he does not retreat this time," Takeru said.

"No. Not by your own this time, _tono_. We cannot wait any longer. Let us summon the samurai-tachi."

"Wait!" Takeru called out as he grabbed Hikoma's arm.

"I said I'd do it by myself, didn't I?"

"How long do you plan to keep on saying that? Now is not the time to be stubborn! You know as well as I do how powerful Doukoku is!"

Frustration began to show itself on Takeru's face as he released his grip on Hikoma's arm.

"That's why! That's why… I cannot be sure that I can just let these guys get caught in the battle! Zenjiro aside, these people, they've never seen the enemy before! How can I just lead complete strangers into battle without any regards for their welfare?"

"Have you forgotten what your late father said?"

Hikoma turned towards Takeru, who recalled the day his father died. It was a scene that he will forever remember. His father, stumbling towards him weakly through a burning corridor while wielding a katana before dropping to his knees right in front of him and placing the Shishi Origami in his hands.

_Don't forget… From today forth, you are ShinkenRed! No matter what, do not run away… Protect this world from the Gedoushuu!_

As the painful memories replayed themselves in his head, Takeru found himself unconsciously gripping the Shishi Origami hard in his hand.

"The samurai-tachi, those of the same generation as you, their fate was to be born as samurai. Everyone have surely come to terms with it. Also, just like you, my lord, as painful as it is, this is a burden that they must bear!"

With that, Hikoma fired the arrows, each marked with a note that says 'gather', one after the other into the air. Takeru wanted to stop him, but found himself being held back by his own indecision as his guardian's words resounded within him.

Once he was done with the arrows, Hikoma made his way past Takeru and Zenjiro and struck one of the tatamis in the room behind them, revealing a secret compartment which held four other Shodophones similar to the one Takeru uses.

"Here! The samurai-tachi will surely come forth!" he said to Takeru, who sighed as he finally accepted that there was no changing Hikoma's mind.

At this point, Hikoma turned towards Zenjiro.

"Zenjiro, there is something you should know as well. This, belonged to your clan."

To Takeru and Zenjiro's shock, Hikoma produced a sixth Shodophone from a pocket in his outfit. Unlike the others, the red portions of this particular Shodophone were black in colour, and it appears to be mirrored to the originals in design as well.

"Where did that come from?"

"The seventeenth head of the Shiba Clan had always hoped that the Yanagi will, one day, finally leave the shadows and stand alongside the others once more as a samurai. Since the original Shodophone used by your clan was destroyed a long time ago, he created this new one, based on the original's design. I do not know whether you would use it or not, but please, hold on to it for now."

Zenjiro looked at Takeru, then back at Hikoma.

"If I take that, it would be equivalent to me breaking my family's oath never to wield a blade again!" he protested.

"Jii! You're putting him in a difficult position! It was already bad enough that we half-forced him to come live here after his parents…"

"I am not forcing the issue on him. The truth is, we of the Kusakabe Clan had long been friends with the Yanagi, even after their exile. Like the seventeenth, I too wish to see the Yanagi stand beside the Shiba Clan as a samurai one day, but the choice is ultimately Zenjiro's to make."

Zenjiro closed his eyes to ponder for a moment, then he opened them. One look at them was moe than enough for Takeru to tell that Zenjiro was feeling conflicted, even slightly betrayed, but then Zenjiro gently pushed away Hikoma's hand, the one that was holding the black Shodophone.

"Sorry, Jii-san, but I think you'll have to hold on that for now. I stand by my clan's oath, and do not plan to hold a sword. In the meantime, I shall aid you all in what capacity I can."

Hikoma sighed, nodded and kept the black Shodophone.

"Now that we have that out of the way, Zenjiro, help me out in the field for today. Send out your crows, gather the samurai at one location. After that, see if you can assist the kuroko in saving as many people as you can."

Zenjiro only nodded in agreement before turning to leave.

As Zenjiro's bicycle was heard making its way out of the mansion gates noisily, Takeru grabbed the Shodophones and placed them in a bag before making his own way to the courtyard with Hikoma. Taking out his own and writing the kanji for 'horse', Takeru summoned a white horse before him, complete with saddle and reins.

"Our lord is going into battle!" Hikoma hollered.

On cue, a large group of kuroko carrying white banners of varying lengths and positions bearing the Shiba Clan's crest dashed out the gate to herald Takeru's riding to battle. Without another word, Takeru mounted his summoned horse and rode out the gate at full speed, his expression once again becoming stoic…

* * *

The youth from the arcade walked down a path, cheerfully taking out a meat bun and was just about to take a bite when something knocked it out of his hands. Looking down, he found his meat bun impaled by an arrow which also bear a note saying "gather" as well as a crest his father had told him about.

Taking out the square object, the youth stared at it for a moment before excitement showed on his face.

"Alright!" he uttered before taking off at full speed towards the distance…

* * *

The pre-school center's teacher was happily playing with the children when she witnessed an arrow embedding itself into the wooden notice board outside the center's gate. The sight of the note on it caused her smile to slowly disappear as she realized what was about to happen.

Quickly explaining to her colleagues that there was an family emergency and that she will not be back for a long time, the teacher said goodbye to the children she had been taking care off, much to their sadness. Unfortunately, the call must be answered, even though it broke her heart to just leave the kids like this.

Staring at the circular object in her hands, the teacher dashed towards the gate, where a pair of kuroko were already standing by with an old-fashioned wooden palanquin…

* * *

The girl with the flute had the shock of her life when an arrow narrowly missed her head by a few inches. As she recovered from the initial shock, she found herself staring at the note attached to the arrow.

Packing whatever she thought was necessary, she took a deep breath and one last look at the town and the bamboo forest behind the crafts shop before running towards the direction of the city…

* * *

Ryuunosuke and his father were performing before a live audience, not noticing that an arrow had landed on the stage until they both turned their heads to the right. The sight of the arrow caused them momentarily pause as they realized that Ryuunosuke was being summoned to battle.

The two at first continued their performance like as though nothing had happened until one particular stance where they both took a step forward, at which point Ryuunosuke's father slightly turned towards his son.

"It's time," he whispered.

Ryuunosuke nodded, threw his headgear into the air and leapt off the stage, surprising the audience with the sudden turn of events as he dashed out of the theatre…

* * *

Zenjiro could see the explosions in the city even from the distance. This Ayakashi called Kagekamuro was clearly wrecking a lot of havoc. Zenjiro sighed, wondering how many people he can save.

Still, he thought, once Takeru had gathered the samurai, they would most likely go straight for the Ayakashi, distracting him long enough to save more people perhaps.

Distracted by his thoughts, Zenjiro failed to check his left and right, and the next thing he knew, he was falling to the ground as someone crashed into his bicycle and sprawled on top of him.

"Ow, ow, ow! What was that for?" Zenjiro uttered as he held the back of his head in pain.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! I was running so fast that I did not see you! Are you all right?"

Zenjiro stared at the girl, who gives off the aura of a country bumpkin, that had crashed into his bicycle and was now lying on top of him.

"Gah!"

A shocked Zenjiro shoved the girl off him in a panic, though he managed to do so gently out of fear he might hurt her.

"I'm so sorry! I did not mean to land on top of you!"

"Stop apologizing already! Geez, you had me scared for a moment. Still, you ran into me pretty hard. Did you injure yourself?"

"Oh, no! I'm fine! But you did hit your head…"

"No worries, I got a thick skull…"

It was at this point Zenjiro noticed the triangle-shaped object that the girl was wearing around her neck.

"Saru Origami…Are you a samurai of the Hanaori Clan?" he asked.

"Eh? You know of the samurai?"

"I work for the samurai. Yanagi Zenjiro. I'm the guy that'll be fixing your equipment and healing your Origami after each battle."

"Hanaori Kotoha, nice to meet you. Are you some sort of blacksmith?"

"Well, I guess you could say that…"

Another explosion from the city drew both their attentions back at the matter at hand.

"What is happening?" Kotoha asked.

"It's an Ayakashi attack. You need to find the rest of your comrades and meet up with Shiba- _tono_ ," Zenjiro explained.

"Got it. But… Eh, Zenjiro-kun…"

 _We've just met no more than five minutes and she's added -kun to my name?_ Zenjiro thought to himself.

"Sorry, but I don't really know much of the city. I know it's dangerous right now, but could you guide me around?"

 _She really is from the countryside! She is kind of cute, though…_ Zenjiro once again thought to himself.

"All right, I guess. After all, if I serve Shiba- _tono_ , I serve his retainers too. But stick close, and run when I say to run, okay? Hop on," Zenjiro said to Kotoha as he picked up his bicycle…

* * *

"PLEASE WAIT!"

The two kuroko carrying the palanquin halted in their footsteps as Ryuunosuke finally caught up with them. Literally skidding to a halt in front of the palanquin, the former aspiring kabuki actor got down on his knees immediately.

"Head of the Shiba Clan! I happened to catch sight of your palanquin, Shiba Takeru-sama!"

The two kuroko stared at each other, their masks concealing their faces thus making it difficult to tell if they were confused by Ryuunosuke's actions or amused by his soon-to-be-found-out mistake.

"I have come from the Ikenami Clan. My name is Ryuunosuke…"

The palanquin door opened, and the pre-school teacher popped her head out.

"Wait a minute, I'm not…"

"Eh?"

Ryuunosuke looked up in surprise at hearing a female voice, and the pre-school teacher had a bad shock at seeing his face: Ryuunosuke was still wearing his kabuki makeup!

"This is… I had no idea that you were a lady, my lord!"

"I said that I'm not! I'm Shiraishi Mako, and what's with that makeup all over your face?"

"Ah! My deepest apologies!"

The annoyed young woman stepped out of the palanquin as a kuroko handed Ryuunosuke a wet towel for him to clean off the makeup.

The sound of a bicycle caused Mako and the kuroko to turn around just in time to see a young man of around Mako's age approaching with a young teenage girl as his passenger.

"Found them," the young man said as the teenage girl jumped off the bicycle.

" _Tono-sama_!" she called out as she ran towards Ryuunosuke.

"What, eh, wait! I'm not who you think I am!"

"Oi, Kotoha, I've lived with Shiba- _tono_ for three years, and he sure as hell won't be caught wearing something like that," the young man said to the girl as he tried to suppress a laugh.

"How rude of you. I'll have you know that this costume is part of kabuki tradition!"

"Kabuki?"

"Who are you anyway?"

"Wait, are you both samurai too?" Mako asked.

"Not me, just Kotoha over there," the young man replied while pointing at Kotoha.

"Then you are…"

"Oh, Zenjiro-kun serves our lord too, just not as a samurai. He helped to bring me here," Kotoha explained.

"But aren't the servants of the Shiba Clan supposed to be concealed at all times? He does not look like a kuroko…"

"Eh, I guess you can call me a blacksmith of sorts," Zenjiro said to Ryuunosuke while sneaking a mischievous wink at Kotoha.

"Hey… Are you guys my comrades?"

Everyone turned to see a youth that appeared to be slightly older than Kotoha approaching them.

"Man, you guys look amazing," he said.

Unable to detect the sarcasm in his words, Kotoha and Ryuunosuke immediately kowtowed to him and addressed him as 'lord'. Unable to hold back anymore, Zenjiro started laughing so hard that he collapsed to the ground with a bewildered Mako staring at him while the youth reacted with horror at two strangers practically worshiping him.

"What the hell? I'm not your lord!"

"Eh? You're not?"

"I'm like you guys. Wait, there's five of us?"

"No, there's _four_ of you. I'm not counted…" Zenjiro replied as he sat up, having stopped laughing at long last.

"Then, are you our lord?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"Are you an idiot? I just told you who I was!" Zenjiro blurted out, completely baffled by how dense Ryuunosuke was, and his choice of words immediately triggered the kabuki actor.

"No, I was wrong! He is definitely not our lord! He is too uncouth and laid-back to be even a samurai!"

"Of course I'm not a samurai, and what the hell do you mean by 'uncouth', you clown!"

"I'm a CLOWN?"

"You're dressed so colorfully for a kabuki actor that you'll fit more in a circus than a traditional theatre!"

"ARRGHH! You cur! I'll get you!"

"Dude, I think you and I are going to get along just fine," Chiaki said to Zenjiro who now had to be pulled back from Ryuunosuke as they childishly squabbered with each other while trying to poke each other in the face.

"The, just who is our lord? What does he look like?" Mako asked.

"So, you guys are the samurai?"

Everyone looked up to see a stoic young man on a white horse approaching them. Zenjiro grinned, got to his feet and walked over to stand beside him.

"Shiba- _tono_ , the retainers have gathered. From left to right, Shiraishi Mako, Hanaori Kotoha, Ikenami Ryuunosuke, Tani Chiaki. The four of you, this is your lord, Shiba Takeru, Eighteenth Head of the Shiba Clan."

"Wait, how did you know our names?" Ryuunosuke asked Zenjiro, who merely shrugged.

"Never mind that. The four of you, listen up. I shall say this from the start. If you proceed, once you've make the first stroke, there is no turning back. You will either defeat the Gedoushuu, or you will lose and die. If you are still willing to fight alongside me…"

Takeru took a Shodophone out of his bag and displayed it for the four of them to see.

"Then I shall give this to you."

Takeru got off his horse and took a step forward towards the four individuals that had gathered before him.

"However, do not choose because of things such as 'loyalty' or 'retainers'. Be resolute in your decision."

Takeru's words had a profound effect on the four. Zenjiro stared at them, then back at Takeru, starting to become nervous given how tense the situation suddenly was. No doubt that Takeru's choice of words had caused them to begin wondering if this had been a wise decision on their part, but then Ryuunosuke suddenly stood up and walked towards Takeru.

" _Tono_ , if we are all here, that means we have all come to terms with this. Please, let us fight along with you, _tono_!"

"Well, I had that intention since childhood…" Mako added.

"I'll try my hardest," Kotoha chirped.

Chiaki, however, made a sound that indicates his annoyance.

"You guys sure make a big deal about such stuff. Let's just come to a conclusion already. Right, _tono-sama_?"

 _That guy's got guts, but I hope nothing bad happens because of it_ , Zenjiro thought as he observed Chiaki's rudeness towards Takeru.

"Hey, you! How dare you speak to our lord in such a manner!" Ryuunosuke chided Chiaki, but then Takeru suddenly tossed Shodophones at them, with each of the four barely managing to catch them before they hit their faces.

"Let's go," was all Takeru said as Zenjiro began directing the kuroko.

The four become bewildered as the kuroko appeared carrying white banners bearing the Shiba clan's crest and began to surround them.

"Eh? What? What is going on?"

"Oi, don't touch me like that all of a sudden!"

"Is that Zenjiro fellow directing them? Is he the lord of the kuroko?"

"What are you talking about? Hey? What are you…"

"Hey, Takeru," Zenjiro said to Takeru, who immediately noticed the change in his tone.

"It's war you guys are about to go into, right?"

"Yes… I tried my longest to avoid it, but it seems there isn't much choice. Zenjiro, watch our backs. Intervene when necessary."

"Done," was all Zenjiro replied Takeru with as he stepped backwards, took out a brush and wrote the kanji for "hide" in the air, striking it to cause the kanji to spin before he disappeared into the shadows of a nearby alley.

* * *

Kagekamuro laughed as his Nanashi troops continued to weave a path of destruction throughout the city. The lucky humans are the iones who died quickly. Those the Nanashi did not kill fast enough were subjected to more brutal means of death: A couple of people were thrown from an overhead pass, falling from a height of twelve metres, while a few others were beaten until they ceased to move.

Kagekamuro himself was not slacking off in his rampage. Any humans that failed to get out of his way were subjected to being sliced apart by him. It was not just humans that the Ayakashi murdered: Cats and dogs were no spared.

"This is getting boring… We need to wreck more havoc! Wooo!"

With that, Kagekamuro sliced every single car in a nearby parking lot into two while moving at high speed, causing all of them to explode altogether at once the moment he was in the clear.

"Nanashi-renju! Do more! I want to hear more screams and see more blood being shed!"

One Nanashi member tossed a man down the stairs and at Kagekamuro's feet. The man looked up to see Kagekamuro pointing one of his swords at his throat.

"Die, you fool!"

Kagekamuro raised his weapon and was about to strike when the sound of a daiko caused him and every Nanashi to look up the stairs to see white banners everywhere while five individuals stood in front of the biggest banner staring down at him.

"What's this about?" a distracted Kagekamuro asked as his would-be victim took the opportunity to flee.

"That's far enough… Gedoushuu," the one in the middle, presumably the leader, said to Kagekamuro.

"Wait! That family crest…Don't tell me you guys are…"

"That's right… ShodoPhone!"

Each of the five took out their Shodophones and transformed them from a phone to a brush.

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!" ( _One stroke, Imperial report_ )

[ **天** ] [ **木** ] [ **火** ] [ **水** ] [ **土** ]

Once each individual had finished their kanji, which manifested in the form of a two-dimensional writing floating in front of them, they swiped the kanji with their ShodoPhones, causing them to spin around, and initiate their transformation with the press of a single button, first with their suits forming around their bodies, then followed by each kanji wrapping themselves around the heads of the ones who wrote them out to form their helmets.

Taking out a disk, the five loaded them into their swords, the Shinkenmaru, before drawing them out as they performed their roll call.

"ShinkenRed, Shiba Takeru."

"The same, Blue, Ikenami Ryuunosuke."

"The same, Pink, Shiraishi Mako."

"The same, Green, Tani Chiaki."

"The same, Yellow, Hanaori Kotoha."

As the other four knelt down, Takeru took a step forward.

"The Samurai Sentai authorized by Providence…"

At this point, all four rose from their positions and joined their leader in brandishing their Shinkenmaru at the enemy.

"SHINKENGER, GOING FORTH!"

"Am I supposed to be impressed? Get them!" Kagekamuro yelled as the Nanashi rushed towards the Shinkengers while the kuroko that had been carrying the banners fled to safety.

Without fear, the five Shinkengers met the rush head-on by charging straight towards the enemy.

Being an experienced fighter, Takeru had little trouble dealing with the Nanashi, cutting and slicing through them as easily as peeling an apple.

Ryuunosuke's knowledge of sword techniques are put on display as he managed to hold off three Nanashi attacking him at the same time before dealing with the rest of the horde.

Kotoha was just as good at fighting a large number of Nanashi at the same time despite her more defensive stance. The Nanashi, underestimating her for her size, were quickly slained.

Chiaki, on the other hand, was utter chaos. His lack of training was quiclly made obvious by his haphazard fighting style, yet he was still somehow able to avoid being overwhelmed.

Mako's graceful swordsplay was simple yet deadly. One Nanashi found out the hard way that trying to backstab her was a bad idea as it spent a prolonged amount of time impaled on her sword.

More Nanashi showed up, this time wielding bows and arrows. They specifically targeted Takeru, but the leader of the Shinkengers was not only able to dodge and deflect multiple arrows with his sword at once, he even caught one arrow in mid-flight.

"Takeru, behind you," Zenjiro's voice called from the shadow cast by a nearby post.

"Not now, Zenjiro."

"Yes, now. This Kagekamuro, be careful of his Hiki Sōgantō (Joy and Sorrow Paired Face Swords). He's got guns hidden in them blades…"

Takeru sensed Zenjiro's presence vanishing, indicating that he had moved somewhere else, right before Ryuunosuke and Kotoha showed up to attack the bow-wielding Nanashi and rushing to his side. Shortly after, both Mako and Chiaki had joined them.

"What is this? There's so many of them!" Chiaki commented as the Nanashi started surrounding them.

"There's no end to their numbers," Mako added.

"Tono, I shall protect you. Please, get back and…"

"Protect youself," Takeru retorted as he slapped down Ryuunosuke's arm which the latter had raised to keep him back from the Nanashi.

"You're in the way," he added as he spun the disk around his Shinkenmaru, which began to produce red energy that engulfed the entire blade.

"Rekka Daizantou!"

Takeru's weapon transformed into a ridiculously large zanbatou, after which he loaded his personal Shishi Disk onto the weapon.

"Get down!"

Takeru was already swinging when he gave the warning, with the others barely dodging it just in time for him to strike the first few roles of the Nanashi. He then proceeded to rampage through their ranks, sending many of the Nanashi flying like as though he was a character from the _Samurai Warriors_ series by Koei cutting through mooks. At this point, the Nanashi were not trying to charge him, but frantically trying to keep away from him.

"Incredible…" Kotoha commented.

"Just what you would expect from our lord! In that case, me too!"

Ryuunosuke charged forward, followed by the others. As they did so, Ryuunosuke managed to clear an area of the Nanashi before spinning his own disk on the Shinkenmaru. Blue energy engulfed the blade and transformed it into a yumi.

"Water Arrow!"

Loading his personal Ryuu Disk onto the Water Arrow, Ryuunosuke fired several arrows made of water at the Nanashi all at once, taking out several of them from a distance.

Meanwhile, the other Shinkengers are doing the same. Mako's weapon was the Heaven Fan, a war fan which she used to manipulate the wind around her to slash at the Nanashi without her having to even touch them.

Kotoha's weapon, the large shuriken-like Land Slicer, was cleverly utilized as a shield by her before she started slashing her opponents with it. She then surprised the rest of the Nanashi by throwing the Land Slicer at them, the weapon shredding through them before returning to her hands like a boomerang.

Chiaki, disarmed for the third time, managed to kick one of the Nanashi into the rest of it fellows before he managed to retrive his Shinkenmaru.

"I should have taken my training more seriously," he lamented as he transformed his weapon into the Wood Spear.

Surprisingly, Chiaki proved to be a much better fighter with the spear than with the sword. Nimbly avoiding enemy blows despite wielding such a long weapon, the Samurai of Wood quickly subjected the Nanashi to a series of slashes as he spun the Wood Spear at high speed, destroying all of them in a single blow.

With his Nanashi troops utterly demolished, Kagekamuro was forced to engage Takeru in a one-on-one. Firing energy bolts from the eye-like patterns on each of his shoulders, Kagekamuro failed to land a hit on Takeru who blocked them with his Rekka Daizantou before catching the Ayakashi in the gut. As Kagekamuro grunted in pain, Takeru hits him with an attack that sends him flying to a parking lot.

"Not enough, not enough… Have a taste of this!"

A furious Kagekamuro grabbed a nearby car and sends it careening towards Takeru at high speed. Unfazed, Takeru simply sliced the car into two before continuing towads Kagekamuro. Kagekamuro attempted to parry the next blow with his swords, but they were too small and thin compared to the size of the Rekka Daizantou, and the first hit on him by Takeru immediately disarmed him of both his weapons.

"How is this possible?" Kagekamuro asked, and Takeru took the opportunity to run the Rekka Daizantou right through the Ayakashi's torso.

However, the attack did not stop there. With a battlecry, Takeru began charging forward at high speed, pushing the still-impaled Kagekamuro along and ramming him through several objects to weaken him as much as possible until he finally slammed Kagekamuro against a pillar. The impact was so hard that the pillar actually cracked.

Removing the Rekka Daizantou from Kagekamuro's torso, Takeru swung a full 360 degrees to decapitate Kagekamuro instantly, the attack also cleaving through the pillar as well. Kagekamura's headless body gave one last jerk right before it exploded as the other Shinkengers regrouped.

" _Tono-sama_ … Incredible…" Kotoha commented.

"Hey, I was incredible too, you know? I'm good at this," Chiaki said.

"Moe like a 'barely pulled this off' level," Mako retorted, much to Chiaki's annoyance.

" _Tono!_ " Ryuunosuke called to his lord as he rushed to greet him.

"Wait! Don't let your guard down!"

Due to Takeru's warning, the other Shinkengers stopped what they were doing and turned to look at their leader, who was now walking away from the slained Ayakashi towards them.

"All Ayakashi have two lives. What we killed was just the first life. The second one is coming!" he said as he turned back to face the remains, which were now starting to glow with an eerie light.

Much to the other Shinkengers' shock, Kagekamuro's remains suddenly began to resurrect and grow in size. Within seconds, the Ayakashi was not only back on his feet, but he was now about eighteen to nineteen storeys high.

"I'll crush you guys!" Kagekamuro roared as he swung one of his blades at them, with the Shinkengers barely dodging/running away from it in time while the entire pavement they had been standing on earlier was turned into rubble.

"How is that possible?" Chiaki asked as the Shinkengers found temporary refuge inside a nearby garage.

"Come to think of it, I've actually heard of such a thing before…"

"You guys didn't study enough. Did you forget we have these for times like this?"

Ryuunosuke held out his hexagon-shaped object, which unfolded itself to form a blue-coloured Japanese dragon.

"Origami, it's the embodiment of each of our kanji. By becoming one with them, the second life of the Ayakashi will…"

"So, you do long-winded introductions as well?" Takeru interrupted Ryuunosuke as he sheathed his Shinkenmaru and took out his own Shishi Origami.

"Shishi Origami! Origami Big Transformation!"

With that command, Takeru wrote the kanji for "big" on top of the Shishi Origami, which then began to swell in size while Takeru disappeared into the Origami itself, reappearing in a cockpit of sorts. Loading another disk onto his Shinkenmaru, Takeru inserted his weapon into a slot, turning the sword into a joystick of sorts while the Shishi Origami bgan making its way towards the enemy.

"Please forgive me! We'll be there right away!" Ryuunosuke called out to Takeru before he and the others did the same to their own Origamis: Ryuunosuke's Ryuu Origami, Mako's Kame Origami, Chiaki's Kuma Origami and Kotoha's Saru Origami.

As the five Origamis charged at Kagekamuro, the Ayakashi began firing shots from his two blades. Having been pre-warned of this by a hidden Zenjiro, Takeru was able to avoid the shots before flanking Kagekamuro from the right, pounching on him and damaging his right shoulder.

"Why, you…"

The irate Ayakashi launched two energy slashes from his blades at the Shishi Origami, only to miss the target as the Shishi Origami started mauling him, no-selling the slashes being inflicted upon it.

"Tono, let us attack together! I will go from the left-"

"I'm going!"

"Eh?"

Kotoha piloted the Saru Origami ahead before Ryuunosuke could even finish his sentence, launching it at Kagekamuro's face and delivering rapid punches to his face and distracting him from the Shishi Origami. When he attempted a counter attack, the Saru Origami leapt away, quickly made its way up a skyscraper and folded in back into its triangle shape before rolling towards Kagekamuro, the impact knocking both swords out of his hands.

As Kagekamuro tried to recover from the attack, the Kame Origami also folded in back ito its circle shape.

"This time, it's my turn!" Mako said as she had the Kame Origami spin rapidly, creating a whirlwind around it as it surged towards Kagekamuro.

Kagekamuro smacked it out of the air instead.

As Mako shrieked in surprise, Kagekamuro opened his second mouth.

"How cheeky! I'll bite you!" he declared as the second mouth clamped down on the Kame Origami.

"Hey! Let go!"

At this point, the Kuma Origami was rushing forward to the rescue.

"What are you doing?" Chiaki asked in exasperation as the Kuma Origami began to stand on its hind legs.

"Oh, you want to fight too? Come on!" Kagekamuro challenged while firing energy bolts from the eye-like patterns on his shoulders.

The attack failed to deter the Kuma Origami from pressing forward as it began clawing at Kagekamuro's second face, dealing quite a bit of damage before Kagekamuro finally picked the Kuma Origami up. Instead, Chiaki had the Kuma Origami transformed back into its square shape, surprising the Ayakashi into dropping it on his own foot. The pain was enough to cause him to release the Kame Origami.

"Quick, run!"

"Wait! Come back here!" Kagekamuro yelled as Mako and Chiaki made their escape while the Ryuu Origami arrived to intercept, smacking him in the face while in its hexagon shape before unfolding itself.

"Leave this to me! Ryuu Bakufu ( _Dragon Waterfall_ )!" Ryuunosuke ordered.

In response, the Ryuu Origami fired a stream of blue flames which hurts Kagekamuro a lot, knocking him off his feet once again. The Origami then regrouped, with the Shishi Origami again leading the charge.

"Gokaku Daikaen ( _Five-side Giant Blaze_ )!" Takeru announced as he drew his Shinkenmaru out of the slot, spun the disk attached to it and pointed it forward.

The Shishi Origami folded itself back into its pentagon shape while its two front limbs remained outside, turning it into some sort of plane-like shape right before fire engulfed the entire Origami as it surged forward at high speed. Before Kagekamuro could react, the Shishi Origami had sliced right through his torso like a hot knife through butter.

As the flames disappeared from the Shishi Origami while it landed in its animal form, Kagekamuro danced wildly in pain with sparks flying out of every part of his body. With one final death cry, he collapsed to the ground and exploded.

"This brings this chapter to a conclusion," Takeru declared while the gathered Origami lets out a victory cry together…

* * *

Zenjiro emerged from the shadows to greet Takeru and the samurai as they transformed back into their civilian identities.

"Zenjiro, you know what to do once we get back to the mansion," Takeru said to him while flashing the Shishi Origami at him.

"Heh, who do you think I am, Shiba- _tono_? Still, could you not let the lion take so much damage on the back? That's the hardest part to fix despite what it looks like…"

Meanwhile, Kotoha stared at the Saru Origami in her hands, now folded in back to a triangle.

"We did it… Feels great," she said softly.

"Of course! That was a piece of cake," Chiaki replied while tossing and catching his own Origami.

"That's going a little too far, don't you think?" Mako asked.

"That's right…"

The three of them looked up to see Ryuunosuke staring at Takeru.

"It's because our lord lead us in battle… Ugwah!"

"Oi, Jii-san, what's with the rush?" Zenjiro asked as Hikoma shoved Ryuunosuke aside by accident and grabbed Takeru's arms.

" _TONO_! Splendid fight! Jii-san is so happy!"

"What's this? Who's the old man?" Chiaki asked while the girls stared at Hikoma with confusion.

"That's Hikoma-san, he's a retainer of the Shiba Clan. He can get a bit weird…" Zenjiro explained while scratching his head.

"I'm going back," Takeru said in an annoyed tone as he shook off Hikoma and began to walk away.

"Oh, please wait! Oi, you guys too! Follow our lord!"

Hikoma smacked Ryuunosuke on the head before following Takeru, with Ryuunosuke and Kotoha doing the same. Chiaki and Mako stared at each other before doing the same as well, while Zenjiro tagged along from the back.

As they walked, Zenjiro silently took out his own Origami, still in its trapezium form, and stared at it.

"Samurai, huh?" he whispered before tucking it back into his pocket and continuing to follow the others.

* * *

_At last, the samurai had gathered before Lord Takeru…_

_So, what kind of battle awaits them?_

_This ends the first act of Shinkenger…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: There won't be any "shipping" between my OC and the canon characters apart from some teases, reason being that at least 20% of my OC's personality involves self-insertion which is itself already something of a taboo in writing fanfiction.
> 
> And yes, I had people dying in this fanfic. When it came out in 2009, Shinkenger was almost immediately established as one of the darker series with the first episode alone seeing at least seven to eight on-screen human deaths (not as bad as Gorengers, J.A.K.Q. and Liveman's first few episodes. From what I heard, J.A.K.Q.'s storyline got too dark for a kid's show that they had to cut short the series), though it quickly mellowed out on human casualties as the series continued.


	2. Act 2: The Stylish Combination

_For hundreds of years, the Gedoushuu invaded our world through the Crevices to wreck havoc. To deal with such a threat, the Emperor commissioned specific clans of samurai families to exterminate them and protect the world._

_These samurais were not only skilled in martial arts, but also possessed a mysterious power over words themselves: Mojikara. With Mojikara, they fight the Gedoushuu as a Lord and his retainers. Their powers are passed down from parent to child; From child to child they were passed on._

_Unbeknowest to the world, the battle continues to this day…_

* * *

"Those who become Shinkengers must not only be proficient with their swords… The power of 'Mojikara' that had been passed down to them must also be mastered," Hikoma lectured as the four retainers practiced writing characters in the courtyard.

Zenjiro, who was holding more stacks of writing paper, went to check on Ryuunosuke, only to get a face full of water the moment the latter finished his kanji.

"Ah, sorry!"

"No, no, it's fine, I -YEOWCH!"

"Ah, Zenjiro-kun! I didn't see you? Are you all right?" Kotoha asked as she and Ryuunosuke tried to steady Zenjiro, who was now hopping on one leg due to a brick-sized rock created from Kotoha's writing dropping on his foot.

While the three continued their antics, Mako calmly finished her own kanji, resulting a a gentle breeze blowing past her while Hikoma walked over to where Takeru was seated.

"Well, now, it seems that they are all doing just fine," he commented.

"I don't know about that…" Takeru replied.

Following the direction of Takeru's gaze, Hikoma turned towards Chiaki, who appears to be having difficulty with his own character.

"Weird… Is it like this? Huh? Why?"

The entire paper was covered in the same character that Chiaki had been writing, yet nothing was happening and the Samurai of Wood was getting more and more confused.

Hikoma walked over to him and smacked him on the head.

"Oi!"

"Your order of the strokes are wrong!" Hikoma scolded.

"Oh, no wonder I- But you didn't have to hit me! That hurts-"

"Be quiet. If you cannot properly write your words, you will be no use to our lord."

"Fine, fine…"

Hikoma suddenly yelled in pain, causing everyone to turn only to see the Kuma Origami biting his ankle while Chiaki stifled a laugh. The attack was quickly stopped when another Origami suddenly appeared and pecked at the Kuma Origami, causing it to let go and growl at its attacker.

"Ah, an owl Origami!" Kotoha exclaimed.

"But whose Origami is that?" Mako asked.

"It's mine."

The others turn to see Zenjiro walking towards Chiaki.

"Don't use your Origami like that! I can understand the occasional prank but using it to cause hurt to an old man? My ancestors will be shamed to see their creation being treated like this!" he chided Chiaki, who merely looked away, before tending to Hikoma's leg.

"He's right, you know? Besides, we are standing in front of our lord!" Ryuunosuke added.

"Could you stop with the 'lord' thing already?" Chiaki retorted.

"What?"

"I didn't come here to be part of a jidaigeki. I'm not his retainer."

"Oh, crap…" Zenjiro muttered.

Takeru, who had already stood up, approached Chiaki, staring down at the younger man.

"Zenjiro," he said as he took out his ShodoPhone, switched it to brush mode and tossed it to Zenjiro.

"Oi, Shiba- _tono_ , what is this?"

"Make a mist."

"What?"

Takeru merely glaced at him, and Zenjiro gulped.

"All right… Chiaki, I apologize in advance for any offense caused."

Taking a piece of paper, Zenjiro rapidly wrote the kanji for [ **靄** ] (mist), causing the character to glow black with a purple outline and resulting in a light mist being formed in the courtyard, which caused the others to show slight amazement at how fast he did it. Takeru then turned towards Chiaki.

"You do not have to think of me as a _tono-sama_ , but if you're not serious about being a Shinkenger, then you're fired."

"Don't decide that yourself-"

"I can and will make the decision. I have no need for useless types, especially when an attendant can do the job of a samurai better than an actual one," Takeru said to Chiaki in a cold tone before turning to leave.

"That guy… What the hell… Ouch!"

Hikoma, who was now able to stand, landed another smack on Chiaki's head while the others meely stare at the scene with discomfort…

* * *

_These are the modern day samurai…_

_Well, can they really win against the enemy?_

* * *

News of Kagekamuro's defeat had already reached Chimatsuri Doukoku, though he was not concerned. At the moment, inside the Rokumon Junk, Doukoku was quietly sipping his sake as Dayu played her shamisen. His calmness was a rare sight, and it actually made the other gathered Gedoushuu more nervous than usual.

"Ah… I want to hurry and sink the human world into the waters of the Sanzu River… It would be fun…"

Snatching the sake bottle away from the Nanashi holding it, Doukoku began pouring the entire content into his bowl, causing much of the sake to be wasted on the floor.

"I really want to make the River overflow into their world, just like this… If we had that water, we'd be able to live in their world…"

"Ooh, this might be a good method to achieve what you just said, Doukoku."

Shitari walked over to Doukoku and showed him the contents of a book marked by the family crest of the Shiba Clan, no doubt one of the books stolen during a previous raid.

"As stated in these records, each time misfortune or calamity fell upon the human world, the Sanzu River would start filling with more water. Things like epidemics or earthquakes, see? So, if we were to cause one of those…"

"The Sanzu River's water levels will start to rise…"

"Oh, that does sound interesting… Doukoku, perhaps we should try it out and see if it works?" Dayu said to Doukoku as she walked towards them.

"Hmm… Fine."

Doukoku walked towards the bow of the junk and hollered out into the river.

"OI! OOTSUMUJI! COME UP!"

Something leapt out of the river and onto the junk. It was another humanoid creature, complete with a bestial face and a set of claws, but it also looked like as though there was a large centipede wrapped around it.

"General, you called?" Ootsumuji ( _Big Whirl_ ) asked.

"Ootsumuji, I remember how you wrecked havoc in the human world seventy years ago until an injury dealt by the Shinkengers forced you back into the Sanzu River. How is your arm?"

"Never better, General. Just give me the order to invade the human world and I, Ootsumuji, will deal with the rest."

"Well, my mission for you is a relatively simple one. Cause as much havoc as you can. That is all."

"Such a simple mission! I shall succeed without fail!"

* * *

Ryuunosuke had just finished preparing his tea when Chiaki entered the sitting room and promply laid down with his jacket in his hands.

"Man, a lord in this age? No way! I'm fed up with it. Who does he think he is?"

Ryuunosuke ignored Chiaki's words as he drank his tea.

"Being with that guy makes me lose all motivation…"

"Don't say things like that about our lord."

Chiaki clicked his tongue, got up and walked over to Ryuunosuke. He was about to ask something when Mako suddenly showed up.

"Hey, guys, have you seen that girl, Kotoha? She's vanished."

"What?"

* * *

After two hours of searching the city, Mako, Ryuunosuke and Chiaki met up at a bridge.

"Did you find her?" Mako asked.

"No, sorry," Chiaki replied, holding a pot of oden.

"Maybe she went shopping?" Ryuunosuke suggested.

"I don't think so. Kotoha said she's never been out of the countryside before. She's not used to wandering about by herself.

"Maybe she ran away? Anyway, our _tono-sama_ , that Takeru, he's too strict," Chiaki commented as he sat down on a bench.

"You really are obstinate. Stop saying bad things about our lord."

"Isn't it true? You fawn too much over him…"

"It's not fawning! As his retainer, this is the natural etiquette required. That was how I was raised! Wasn't it the same with you guys?"

"Not really," Chiaki sighed.

"Seems like your parents were really irresponsible…"

Chiaki paused in his footsteps, a pained look on his face that quickly turned into anger as he turned around and got right into Ryuunosuke's face.

"Maybe they were, but it still pisses me off when you say it like that!"

"Oi, stop it, you two!" Mako urged as she managed to separate the two before anything happens.

Chiaki turned away while Ryuunosuke backed off.

"Mako-san, just whose side are you on? Takeru's?" Chiaki asked.

"Not sure."

The two male samurais were caught off-guard by Mako's answer as she took a few steps away from them, looking wistfully at the sky.

"I do not know about your two, but for me, I abandoned my dreams to come here and fight. If our lord turns out to be an irresponsible fellow, then I'm definitely not going to entrust my life to him. That's all."

"Hey, our lord's not an irresponsible guy…" Ryuunosuke objected.

"That is why I said I haven't decided yet! Ryuunosuke too, did you not abandon kabuki theatre? Don't you feel the same way?"

Mako's question was directed at Ryuunosuke, but it also struck a chord in Chiaki as both males began pondering over their decision to come and fight the Gedoushuu.

"No."

"Eh?"

Ryuunosuke took a deep breath and stepped away from the other two.

"For samurai, once they have chosen someone to be their lord, then that person is their lord. That is all."

Chiaki sighed.

"Geez, just can it already with the lord-this, lord-that thing!"

"As a retainer, you dare-"

"I said, stop it already!"

Mako tried to stop Ryuunosuke from getting to Chiaki as the two started to fight again, but Ryuunosuke managed to push past her and had seized Chiaki's collar when something familiar swooped down and pecked Ryuunosuke in the head.

"Ow, what was that? Hey, isn't this… Fukurou Origami?"

"The one that belonged to Zenjiro? What's it doing here?"

The Fukurou Origami perched on a nearby bench, made some hooting noises and motioned with its wings to follow it. The three did so, following the Fukurou Origami a short distance to a clearing in the park where they noticed quite a few animals had gathered.

"Oh, she's here," Chiaki commented as they saw Kotoha practicing her swings with a bokken, while Zenjiro sat nearby and watched her.

"Man, you three argue so loud I could hear it from here. I guessed you were looking for Kotoha, so I sent the Fukurou to get you all," Zenjiro said as Kotoha stopped what she was doing and turned to see her fellow samurais approaching.

"Wow, you sure are quick on the move, Zenjiro," Chiaki commented.

"Quick on what?"

"What are you doing here with Kotoha?"

"She bribed me to take her around the city," Zenjiro nonchalantly replied as he held up a small bag of bamboo snacks.

"Er, okay… But, Kotoha, to think you would come hre to practice on your own… "

"What splendid dedication!" Ryuunosuke praised as he rushed forward and held Kotoha's hands.

Kotoha lets out an embarrassed giggle as she pulled away from Ryuunosuke.

"That's too much. I was just told to come here, work hard and be useful to our lord. That's why I'm a Shinkenger, for my big sister."

"Big sister?" Mako asked.

"She told me her story on our way here. Seems that her older sister was supposed to be the next ShinkenYellow, but she fell ill," Zenjiro explained.

"What kind of illness?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"Why are you so prying?"

"No, it's fine, Zenjiro-kun," Kotoha said.

Zenjiro looked at her and sighed.

"Tuberculosis," he muttered, clearly not comfortable about saying it.

The three were slightly taken aback by what they just heard.

"For real?" Chiaki asked, a look of concern spreading on his face.

Kotoha took out a bamboo flute and stared at it.

"I became a Shinkenger in place of my sister because of her illness. She's actually recovering, but her body has become really frail from the disease."

"Man, that's some tough luck you got there."

Kotoha shook her head.

"No, that's not true. In fact, I was happy, actually. I've… I've never been good at studying or bamboo work at home. The flute and the sword were the only things I am good at. Being a Shinkenger was the only thing I could do. That's why… I want to do my best with _tono-sama_ ," she said with a smile.

After a moment of silence, Ryuunosuke suddenly seemed to retch, and Zenjiro realized to his amusement that the Samurai of Water was trying to hold back tears before the latter grabbed Chiaki's shoulder.

"Why are you so dramatic? Do kabuki actors cry during their performances?" Zenjiro asked.

"Did you see that? Such purity… She, she is a true samurai's child!"

"Idiot! To be so brainwashed, such a poor thing!" Chiaki yelled back at Ryuunosuke.

"What do you think, Mako?" Zenjiro asked only to be stunned upon seeing the pained expression on Mako's face as she, without a word, walked over to the younger girl and hugged her, catching everyone off-guard.

"Mako-san?" Kotoha asked.

"I'm sorry, I was getting a bit too emotional after hearing your story… You really are a brave girl, Kotoha," Mako replied as she lets go of Kotoha and began to calm down.

Chiaki grinned before taking out a skewer from his oden pot and offering it to Kotoha.

"Here, have this."

"Eh? Really?"

"You deserve it, and a lot more."

"In that case, thank you, Chiaki-kun."

"Hey, what about you, Zenjiro? What's your story?" Ryuunosuke asked as Kotoha accepted the skewer from Chiaki.

"Oh, me? I'm not some interesting fellow, so…"

"But you have Mojikara, right? And you can even write such a complicated kanji so fast. You must be quite skilled," Mako said.

"Yeah, and you seem to be on friendlier terms with Takeru," Chiaki added.

Zenjiro sighed.

"You guys, your parents, did they tell you about the history of the Shinkengers?"

"Well, they did for me…" Ryuunosuke said.

"Are you aware of a major event that occurred during the tenure of the tenth generation of Shinkengers?"

"Yeah, there was some kind of major conflict, and one of the samurai that was allied with the Shiba Clan suddenly betrayed them…"

Zenjiro nodded.

"From the first to the ninth generation, the Shiba Clan had five retainer clans. The Ikenami clan, the Shiraishi clan, the Tani clan, the Hanaori clan, and lastly, the Yanagi clan. Guess who was the traitor?"

"The Yanagi clan… But wait a minute, Zenjiro-kun! When we first met, you said your family name was-"

"You're saying that your clan were the traitors?" Ryuunosuke asked.

Zenjiro nodded.

"I'm not just a member of the Yanagi clan. I am a direct descendant of the traitor himself. Yanagi Toshikazu, the third known human to fall into Gedou. For the sake of absolute power, he went into the Sanzu River, and returned as a demon: A Gedounin."

"Woah, that went dark real quick," Chiaki commented.

"What happened to your ancestor

"After he was slain by his own brother, the Yanagi Clan swore never to hold a blade again. Many of my ancestors became kuroko, while a few set up shop in the outskirts of Shiba territory where they provided aid in the form of medicine, information or repairs."

Zenjiro let out a short laugh as he turned back to the samurai, tucking his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker.

"That's my job right now. I'm the blacksmith and the doctor. Your equipment, your Origami, your health and the information, they're all my responsibility. That's why I got irritated with the way you misused your Origami, Chiaki."

"Yeah, my bad, I guess," Chiaki apologized.

"But, Zenjiro-kun, don't you want to fight as a samurai?" Kotoha asked.

"If I fight, who fixes your stuff?"

"Oh, right…"

"C'mon, let's go back already before Jii-san rips us a new one for being out so long and leaving Shiba- _tono_ by himself."

"Ah, that's right! We did not inform our lord where we were going!" Ryuunosuke exclaimed as he turned and ran off.

"Oi, what are you running for?"

Chiaki and Kotoha chased after Ryuunosuke, while Zenjiro picked up his bicycle and followed suit only to notice Mako standing before him.

"Mako?"

"Hey, Zenjiro, you really think Kotoha is happy?" Mako asked.

A dark look spread over Zenjiro's face as he looked away and did not respond immediately.

"No," he said at last,"I don't think so."

* * *

A young man yawned as he collected a drink from the vending machine and left, unaware of a dangerous presence that was starting to creep out from the gap between the vending machine and the ground.

As the young man walked away, the Ayakashi known as Ootsumiji emerged, bringing with him an army of Nanashi, before brandishing his sword and walking the opposite direction, unaware that his intrusion into the human world had set off one of the many bell sensors located in the city…

* * *

The Sukima Sensor was going crazy back at the Shiba Mansion as Zenjiro and the samurai returned.

"What's with those bells?" Chiaki asked as Hikoma joined them in the sitting room.

"Ah, I forgot to inform you about this important tool. It's called the Sukima Sensor. It reacts like this everytime the Gedoushuu intrudes into our world."

The Sukima Sensor tipped over and produced a stick with a note on it which Hikoma took while two kuroko showed up with a map indicating the location where the enemy had been sensed.

"Five hundred and sixty three of them, location is Ugetsu-cho."

"What are you all waiting for? Let's go! Zenjiro, you come as well, but stay hidden."

Takeru had emerged from behind them, already in battle mode as he dashed out the front door. The samurai looked at each other before following Takeru while Zenjiro grabbed a wooden case that had his name on it, slung it over his shoulders and took off as well…

* * *

"Shinkūtsumuji Muchi ( _Vacuum-Whirl Whip_ )!"

People screamed and ran as Ootsumiji unleashed his special technique to destroy several buildings around a university using the centipede-like appendage wrapped around his body as a whip while the Nanashi chased after the fleeing humans.

"Do not wiped them all out immediately! Herd them bit by bit! This would be more fun!" he ordered the Nanashi as they began grabbing people and striking their legs to prevent them from escaping.

Without warning, something red in colour began attacking Ootsumuji, causing him to flail his hands wildly before the object in question disengaged and flew into the palm of Shiba Takeru, who now stood before him along with his retainers.

"That's as far as you go, Gedoushuu," Takeru said to Ootsumuji.

From Takeru's shadow, the hidden Zenjiro's voice could be heard whispering.

"I've got the information! That Ayakashi is known as Ootsumuji. He's got a damn destructive ability along with that Senpū Ōgamatō ( _Whirlwind Scythe Sword_ ) of his, so be careful."

"Got it. Everyone, ready?"

"Ready!"

The kuroko began putting up the banners, which caused Ootsumuji to realize who they were.

"The Shiba Crest? You bastards! You're the samurai!"

"ShodoPhone!"

[ **天** ] [ **木** ] [ **火** ] [ **水** ] [ **土** ]

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

The five transformed into their Shinkenger forms and began the roll call.

"ShinkenRed, Shiba Takeru."

"The same, Blue, Ikenami Ryuunosuke."

"The same, Pink, Shiraishi Mako."

"The same, Green, Tani Chiaki."

"The same, Yellow, Hanaori Kotoha."

"The Samurai Sentai authorized by Providence…"

"SHINKENGER, GOING FORTH!"

Almost immediately, the samurai charged forward upon ending their roll coll, not giving the first few rows of Nanashi any chance to react.

"Damn the samurai! Why are they here? Nanashi-renju! Buy me some time to set up my next act of destruction!" Ootsumuji ordered before making his exit.

As the Shinkengers cut their way through the enemy, Takeru noticed more Nanashi wielding bows on the upper levels of the university.

"Ryuunosuke, go deal with them!" he ordered.

"Yes, _tono_!"

Ryuunosuke made his way up to the upper levels and engaged the Nanashi archers. Despite the narrow confines of the corridor, he was still able to cut down several of them until he reached a spot where a large hole had been blown open on the wall.

Without any hesitation, Ryuunosuke transformed his Shinkenmaru into the Water Arrow and leapt to the ground floor, firing arrows at the Nanashi below as he dropped. Once the are was cleared, he turend around and fired even more arrows at the surviving Nanashi on the second floor, quickly destroying them.

On the other side of the battlefield, both Mako and Chiaki had also transformed their Shinkenmarus into the Heaven Fan and Wood Spear respectively, quickly taking out several of the Nanashi that had been trying to surround them. Once again, Chiaki's skills with the spear made up for his poor swordsmanship while Mako was able to send most of the Nanashi flying from the winds she conjured with each wave of her warfan.

As for Takeru, he was going after Ootsumuji, ruthlessly cutting down any Nanashi that got in his way wih the Rekka Daizantou. Considering the speed and the way he was swinging it given its size, one would mistake Takeru for possessing superhuman strengfth. Kotoha, who was fending off a number of Nanashi, tried to follow Takeru, but then found herself being cornered under an overhead pass.

Just as the Nanashi closed in on her, the shadows around the area suddenly seemed to come to life as tendrils shot out from them and haphazardly wrapped themselves around the Nanashi's limbs, restraining them. Kotoha looked around only to see half of Zenjiro's face and his right hand holding a brush popping out from the shadow of a lamp post like some kind of horror movie ghost, causing her to let out a short scream. Zenjiro, not noticing that she had seen him, simply melts back into the shadows.

_Zenjiro-kun has some creepy techniques_ , Kotoha thought to herself before resuming her pursuit of Takeru, finally reaching him just as he caught up with Ootsumuji, who was in the midst of causing more destruction.

"No more running away for you, Ayakashi!" Takeru shouted.

Ootsumuji turned around just in time to parry a blow from the Rekka Daizantou, though the blow forced him back about three steps.

"You are a persistant one, Takeru!" Ootsumuji complained as he swung his weapon at Takeru's head, who dodged it and struck back.

Ootsumuji managed to grab the Rekka Daizantou right before it impaled his body and tried to force it out of Takeru's hands, but Takeru proved to be a tough nut as he managed to use the weapon to shove Ootsumuji off. The Ayakashi then barely dodged an overhead slash that left a long crevice along the ground when it made contact.

"That was dangerous!" Ootsumuji exclaimed.

"You're one to talk, Ayakashi!" Takeru retorted.

As the two continued to fight, Kotoha suddenly noticed a group of Nanashi approaching Takeru from behind. Intercepting them, she stated cutting though them with the Land Slicer, but then the Nanashi gathered together in a line in front of her, prompting her to throw the Land Slicer through them.

As the Nanashi were bisected by the Land Slicer, Kotoha realized too late that she had thrown the weapon too hard as it continued flying towards Takeru and Ootsumuji. Both managed to dodge, but then Takeru's attention was diverted towards Kotoha, a mistake Takeru would not have made if he was fighting alone.

"Thank you! I appreciate the opening!" Ootsumuji exclaimed as he delivered a powerful slash that sends Takeru flying into the air and slamming hard against the wall of a nearby building.

"Oh no! _Tono-sama_!" Kotoha cried out as Takeru collapsed into the rubble, his Rekka Daizantou transforming back into a Shinkenmaru as it dropped to the ground nearby.

"Now, for the finishing blow!" Ootsumuji declared as Kotoha rushed over to Takeru to aid him.

By now, the other samurai had caught up with the two, and upon witnessing Ootsumuji preparing to launch an attack, the three dashed over while Kotoha placed herself in front of Takeru.

" _Tono_! Watch out!"

"Kotoha!"

"Shinkūtsumuji Muchi!" Ootsumuji announced as the centipede-like appendage of his swung forward, striking every Shinkenger before hitting the ground and causing a huge explosion.

When the dust settled, only Takeru was still in his Shinkenger form. Everyone else had been knocked out of their transformation, and they were quite badly wounded.

"What the hell? These guys, they are pushovers," Ootsumuji muttered as he turned around and left to cause more destruction.

"You guys, you can still stand, right?" Takeru asked as he struggled back up to his feet.

There was no response, though the rest of the samurai were clearly in pain and barely able to move. At this point, Zenjiro finally manifested from the shadows, a horrified look on his face as he surveyed the carnage before him.

"If you are still alive, then stand up! I told you before, either you defeat the Gedoushuu, or you will lose and die," he continued as he nearly fell back down but managed to catch himself.

"Yes," Ryuunosuke answered as he managed to get to his knees.

"I know that already!" Chiaki added as he finally sat up.

Mako's concern, however, was not about being able to stand. Kotoha laid right beside her, and it quickly became obvious that she was the most injured, only able to move her fingers as her face was twisted in pain.

"Kotoha! Ae you all right?" Mako cried out as she grabbed Kotoha's shoulders.

"Leave her."

Those cold words that came out from Takeru's mouth shocked all three of them. Chiaki and Mako turned to glare at him while Ryuunosuke could only stare in disbelief at how callous their lord was acting.

However, Takeru did not relent.

"If she's beaten that easily, then we have no use for her," he continued as he walked past them without even looking at Kotoha.

"Hey, you bastard! What the hell do you mean by that?" Chiaki shouted.

"I said we do not need her. The weak just gets in the way."

"You didn't have to say it in such a way! What do you mean we do not need her?" It was now Mako who was shouting with anger.

"I can't believe this!" Chiaki cursed.

"Forget it! Just help me turn Kotoha over!" Zenjiro said to him as he got to Kotoha's side.

"What do you plan on doing?"

"Healing some of her more serious wounds. Kotoha, hold the Fukurou Origami."

Mako helped place the trapezium-shaped Origami in Kotoha's hands and moved them onto her chest while Zenjiro took out a small brush from his box and carefully wrote the kanji [ **復** ] over the Origami. A purple glow envelops Kotoha momentarily as she grimaced. Meanwhile, Ryuunosuke, now back on his feet, stumbled over to Takeru and forcefully turned him around to look him in the eye.

" _Tono_! What were you thinking, saying such things? Those two are right, you know? Kotoha is trying her best to fight for you too! Try to understand her feelings!"

"Just trying one's best is not enough to save people!" Takeru shouted as he shoved Ryuunosuke aside, picked up his Shinkenmaru and rushed off, attacking Ootsumuji once again.

" _Tono_ …" Ryuunosuke's voice trailed off, stunned by the turn of events.

"Stop calling a guy like that 'lord'!" Chiaki yelled.

"Chiaki's right. We'll just fight by ourselves. Kotoha will stay here with Zenjiro," Mako added.

"Zenjiro, you really fine with working under a person like that? He didn't even care that his retainer was-"

"Will you all just SHUT UP for a moment?!"

Zenjiro's sudden outburst caused Mako, who was just beside him, to flinch.

"I've stayed with him for three years. Think about it! If he really is as callous as he behaved just now, did you think I would have continued to help him?" Zenjiro asked as he finished writing another [ **復** ], finally giving Kotoha enough strength to sit up.

"But, Zenjiro…" Chiaki protested.

"They're both right… Zenjiro-kun… And _tono-sama_ as well," Kotoha said.

As Chiaki, Ryuunosuke and Mako turned to look at Kotoha, the Earth Samurai merely pointed towards some rubble near where Takeru and Ootsumuji were fighting. Takeru appeared to be trying to keep Ootsumuji from approaching the rubble until he used a feint to throw the Ayakashi off balance, giving him time to get behind the rubble, at which point it was revealed why he was so desperately fighting off the Ayakashi on his own: A young girl was trapped behind those very rubble.

"A child was caught in the battlefield?" Chiaki uttered in horror.

As Takeru picked up the child in one arm, he was forced to fend off Ootsumuji's heavy attacks while protecting the child at the same time. Even with the disadvantage, Takeru refused to back down, using his own body to shield the child when his weapon is not enough. While his retainers watch in stunned silence, Kotoha was the one who stepped forward.

"It's like what he said… It's meaningless if we cannot protect anyone," she said.

"That guy… I can't believe he is that strong," Chiaki commented as Takeru finally managed to reunite the child with her mother, who had risked her own life coming back to find her missing daughter.

"From his position, showing kindness to a samurai is something useless. All we can do is defeat the Gedoushuu…" Ryuunosuke said.

"And protect the people," Mako finished.

Zenjiro smiled.

"Then what the hell are you people waiting for, Chinese New Year? Go get'em, samurai!" he exclaimed as he sat down on the rubble.

Finally understanding both their mission as well as the risks involved, the four nodded in unison and took out their ShodoPhones.

[ **木** ] [ **土** ] [ **天** ] [ **水** ]

"Ippitsu Soujou!"

Transforming back into Shinkengers once again, the four charged forward to join their lord in battle once more. Meanwhile, Takeru had managed to knock Ootsumuji through a pillar, causing him to fall to his knees, but also making him more angry in the process.

"Shinkūtsumuji Muchi!"

Ootsumuji tried to launch his special technique once again, but this time, Ryuunosuke, Kotoha, Mako and Chiaki intercepted the attack, slicing his centipede-like appendage right before the attack was fully released which in turn caused feedback damage to Ootsumuji.

"Attack simultaneously with me," was all Takeru said to his retainers as he loaded his personal Origami Disk into his Shinkenmaru.

The others followed his lead, and with a spin of the disks, each of their Shinkenmaru became engulfed in their individual elemental powers manifested as the following: Fire, water, sand, wind and leaves. As Ootsumuji got up, the five samurai readied their attack.

"Shinkenmaru: Rasen no Tachi!"

In quick succession, each Shinkenger leap forward to deliver a slashing attack on Ootsumuji, starting with Takeru's burning blade, followed by Ryuunosuke whose attack left a flow of water in its trial, then Mako with her winds dealing extra slashes, with Chiaki's leaves doing the same as well and ending with Kotoha whose sand formed together to become a boulder that smashes against Ootsumuji.

The five combined attacks proved too much for Ootsumuji to handle. As the Shinkengers dropped their stances, behind them, the Ayakashi could only let ut a death cry before it dropped to its knees and exploded.

"Get ready for its second life!" Takeru warned the others.

True enough, Ootsumuji's remains began resurrecting and Ootsumuji's second life was activated, turning him into a towering giant that was even taller than Kagekamuro.

"Do not think that you have won, Shinkengers!" Ootsumuji roared.

"Let's go!" Takeru said to the others, who nodded and took out their individual Origamis.

"Origami Big Transformation!"

Teleporting into their now giant Origami as they unfolded into their animal forms, the Shinkengers charged towards Ootsumuji.

"Useless!" Ootsumuji said as he swung his sword into the ground, creating a huge dust cloud that threatened to send the Origami flying.

"We can't attack like this!" Chiaki complained.

"The Origami alone won't be enough. What we need right now is…"

"Samurai Gattai, right? I heard it from my father. You guys heard of it too, right?" an excited Ryuunosuke cuts off Takeru mid-sentence.

"Let's go! Samurai Gattai!"

The Origami folded back into their shapes and began stacking on top of each other… Except something just did not feel right about the combination.

"All right… Gattai completed!" Ryuunosuke declared.

"But, don't you think this is a bit strange?" Mako asked.

[ **火** ]

[ **土** ]

[ **天** ]

[ **水** ]

[ **木** ]

On the ground, Zenjiro was laughing so hard that he was literally rolling from one side of the area to the other, all the while clutching his stomach in pain. Even Ootsumuji was utterly confused by what he was looking at, for the Origami, instead of becoming one, were literally stacked on top of each other with the exception of the Shishi Origami.

"What… What the…" was all the bewildered giant Ayakashi could utter.

"Oh, it's oden!" Kotoha finally said, noticing how they resembled the order and shapes of the fishcake skewer Chiaki had given her earlier.

"Oden?" Ootsumuji asked, even more confused, having somehow heard Kotoha's description of what the stacked Origami resembled.

"Ryuunosuke, what is that?" Takeru asked in exasperation as the Shishi Origami continued to fly around the stack.

" _Tono_ , is something wrong?"

"YOU LEFT ME OUT!"

"AHH!"

"Oi, what the heck are you doing? Why am I in the lowest position?" Chiaki asked Ryuunosuke.

"Stop shaking the stack!"

"I'm going to fall off!"

"What is this, some kind of joke? Well, if it is, I'll admit it is a bit funny, but… DARUMA OTOSHI!"

With that, Ootsumuji swung his sword and knocked the Kuma Origami away, causing the rest of the Origami to topple over to the ground as the Shinkengers, minus Takeru, started screaming.

Facepalming in the cockpit of the Shishi Origami, Takeru took out his ShodoPhone.

"I'll do it," he muttered as he wrote a single kanji in front of him.

[ **合** ]

"Samurai Gattai!"

The Shishi Origami began folding in and out, eventually forming a head and torso. Meanwhile, the other Origami did the same, with the Kame Origami becoming the right arm, the Saru Origami becoming the left arm, the Ryuu Origami becoming the left leg and the Kuma Origami becoming the right leg. The tail portion of the Ryuu Origami also separated from it, forming a helmet of sorts which the now combined mecha puts on, with thick cables snapping around it to secure the helmet. Meanwhile, a katana with several kanji carved into the blade manifested itself by the left side.

"Shinken-Oh! United under Providence!"

Inside the mecha, the Shinkengers find themselves sharing the same cockpit, which was large enough to hold all five of them.

"Aw, yeah! This is it!" Chiaki said.

"Yes, is it not?" Mako agreed.

"Sorry for my earlier mistake…" Ryuunosuke muttered.

"But I kind of liked the earlier one…" Kotoha commented.

Takeru merely sighed.

"Focus, everyone! He's coming!"

True enough, Ootsumuji was charging straight for Shinken-Oh without fear.

"Daishinken!"

Shinken-Oh unsheathed its sword and parried Ootsumuji, at which point the two began a gigantic sword duel with each other. Despite its appearance, Shinken-Oh proved to be a rather agile mecha, dodging most of Ootsumuji's blow before landing two of its own. The first one forced the giant Ayakashi to stumble backwards, while the second blow, an overhead vertical strike, not only threw Ootsumuji to the ground, but the force of the attack went through him and into a building behind him, causing it to be bisected.

"Come! Oonanashi Renju!" Ootsumuji called out.

On cue, Nanashi began appearing from the gaps of the city, except these ones are around the size of buildings, completely dwarfing their ordinary counterparts. Some were armed with bidents while others carried chains with them.

"How can they get so large?" Chiaki exclaimed.

As the Oonanashi charged Shinken-Oh, the Shinkengers piloted their mecha to dodge their charge before retaliating with a few swings of the Daishinken. About four of them were taken down before the chain-wielding ones managed to entangle Shinken-Oh with their chains, stopping it from moving and allowing the bident-wielding ones to try and pierce through its armour while Ootsumuji laughed.

"Hey, what are we supposed to do?"

"You're asking me?"

"Calm down, you all! Shishi, Flaming Arc!"

The lion's head that was protruding from the chest of Shinken-Oh began breathing fire out from its mouth, burning the Oonanashi in front of the mecha and forcing them back. Seizing the opportunity, the Shinkengers had Shinken-Oh swing both its arms upwards, causing the Oonanashi holding the chains that entangled them to be sent flying into each other while also freeing Shinken-Oh at the same time.

Without wasting any more time, Shinken-Oh performed a full circle swing with the Daishinken, cutting down all the chain-wielding Oonanashi before targeting Ootsumuji. The remaining Oonanashi tried to stop the mecha, only to be cut down with each step Shinken-Oh makes.

As the Shinkengers drew their Shinkenmaru from the cockpit's slots and aimed it forward, Shinken-Oh pointed the Daishinken at Ootsumuji's face, causing him to gulp in fear while taking a step back.

"Daishinken! Samurai Giri!" the Shinkengers announced as they spun the disks loaded on their Shinkenmaru.

Multicoloued energy began to swirl around Shinken-Oh's Daishinken as the kanji carved into its blade lit up.

"What… What is going on?" Ootsumuji asked nervously.

Without replying, Shinken-Oh swung the Daishinken in a full circle before gripping the weapon with both hands. Inside the cockpit, all the Shinkengers swung their Shinkenmaru downwards, and Shinken-Oh did the same with the Daishinken, cleaving right through Ootsumuji with an energized slash.

[ **斬** ]

Ootsumuji cried out in pain, the very last sounds he would make, before collapsing to the ground and exploding while Shinken-Oh turned away from him and sheathed the Daishinken after a victory brandish. Within the cockpit, the Shinkengers did the same with their Shinkenmaru.

"That brings this chapter to a close," Takeru declared.

* * *

" _Tono_!"

Back in civilian form and having been patched up by Zenjiro, the Shinkengers were on their way back to the mansion when Ryuunosuke suddenly dropped to his knees, causing Takeru to turn around.

"I was rude to you, my lord, in a temporary lapse of impetuousness… For that, I deeply apologize!" Ryuunosuke continued as he went into a kowtow position.

Chiaki sighed and folded his arms, Zenjiro turned away to stifle a laugh while the girls merely stared at Ryuunosuke.

"At long last.. I have obtained the resolution of a samurai! Isn't that right, Chiaki?"

"The only similarity between the two of us… Is our mutual dislike for the lord!"

"Hey! Hey! You're a retainer like me…"

As Mako went over to break up the squabble between Ryuunosuke and Chiaki once again, Kotoha walked over to Takeru.

" _Tono-sama_ … Um… I am sorry for the trouble I caused earlier."

Her apology prompted Ryuunosuke and Chiaki to stop trying to paddle-slap each other as they stared at Kotoha in shock.

"I'll try harder next time!" Kotoha declared.

A small smile appeared on Takeru's face as he looked away.

"Don't worry about it… You were strong."

For a moment, Kotoha was speechless, then she began to smile, along with the others, even Chiaki, as they finally caught a glimpse of the hidden kindness inside Takeru.

The moment, however, was ruined when Zenjiro and Chiaki turned to see Ryuunosuke tearing up.

"How magnanimous…"

"Oh my God, are you crying?" Chiaki asked.

"Bloody hell, you really are dramatic," Zenjiro added.

Instead, Ryuunosuke went back down into a kowtow position once more, this time shocking even Takeru despite the latter's stoic expression.

"In comparison, I… If only I could have been that way in battle! Shameful… _Tono_! As proof of my apology…"

"Oi, what are you doing?" Mako asked as Ryuunosuke stripped off his shirt and jacket and jumped right under a large fountain nearby.

"Are you seriously doing _misogi_ in that fountain?" Zenjiro asked as he stared at Ryuunosuke incredulously.

"He's impossible to understand," Chiaki concluded as Ryuunosuke screamed out apologies to Takeru while trying not to swallow the water pouring down on his head.

"TONO-SAMA! I AM SO SORRY!"

"Ryuunosuke might end up being the most tiring one of us all," Mako added.

"What should we do?" Kotoha asked.

"FORGIVE MY MISTAKES, TONO-SAMA!"

"I'm going," was all Takeru said before he turned and left.

"Oh, okay…" Kotoha replied.

"TONO-SAMA! ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES!"

"Yeah, let's just leave him," Chiaki added.

"Don't catch a cold, okay?" Mako called out to Ryuunosuke.

As Kotoha, Chiaki and Mako turned to follow, Zenjiro took some time to at least fold Ryuunosuke's clothing and place them one side before leaving, but then he paused as the Fukurou Origami which had been flying around returned to him, folding back into its trapezium shape as it landed in his palm.

Looking at his Origami, Zenjiro was silent for a moment, then sighed.

"Zenjiro-kun, is something wrong?"

Zenjiro was slightly taken aback at seeing Kotoha suddenly appearing in front of him, a look of concern on her face.

"Oh, nothing! Just… Wait, I thought you were following Shiba- _tono_?"

"I saw you stop walking all of a sudden, so I came back tyo see if you were all right."

"Sorry, I just had a sudden thought regading the Origami… Come on, let's not keep the lord waiting."

The two rushed off to catch up with the others, leaving Ryuunosuke to continue his self-punishment in the fountain…

* * *

_Although forced, the samurai-tachi came to an order._

_However, the battle against the Gedoushuu had just begun._

_With many difficulties in store, Shinkenger Act 2 ends here…_

* * *

Ryuunosuke: "TONO-SAMA! I AM TRULY SORRY!"


	3. Act 3: An Extermination Skill Contest

_The samurai-tachi's lives are righteous and strict._

_They must always practice and train themselves…_

* * *

The sun had only just come out, and the samurai were already training with shinaiss in the courtyard of the Shiba Mansion.

As Mako and Kotoha struck overhead swings on training dummys, Takeru and Ryuunosuke were sparring with each other. However, Ryuunosuke suddenly slowed down and began turning his head to the right, prompting Takeru to stop mid-swing and turn as well just in time to see three kuroko carrying a half-asleep Chiaki out to the courtyard with his training gear only partially put on.

As the kuroko quickly adjusted Chiaki's gear, Takeru walked up to him, waitied for the kuroko to finish before smacking him in the head with his shinai as he was yawning away. It was a light tap, but still hard enough for Chiaki to groan as he held his head in pain.

"What was that for?"

"Wake up! Practice has already started."

"But… Hikoma-Jii-san worked me pretty hard last night…"

"Don't complain! Your self-awareness as a samurai is definitely lacking! Every morning, the kuroko not only have trouble themselves to wake you up, but they also have to help you change clothings! Are you not ashamed?" Ryuunosuke retorted as he walked up to Chiaki as well.

Takeru sighed as he accepted a towel from another kuroko to wipe his sweat.

"Ryuunosuke…"

"Eh?"

"You're one to talk," Takeru replied.

"I don't understand."

"Yo, Ryuunosuke! Look what I found in your room?"

Zenjiro, wearing a black shirt and jeans while carrying a jacket over his shoulders, was walking towards them, the bottom half of a hakama in his other hand. Ryuunosuke suddenly had an epiphany, looked down and realized he was still wearing his pajamas pants.

"You are correct! Damn it, I always oversleep! It is my life's failure," he scolded himself as Zenjiro tossed the rest of the hakama to him.

"Wait, you idiot, don't do it here!"

Too late. Ryuunosuke had pulled his pants down to his knees to reveal a short pair of boxers underneath as Kotoha shrieked and covered her eyes.

"Disgusting," Mako said, showing nothing more than a strict expression as she glared at Ryuunosuke.

"Hah-gurgh! M-My deepest apologies!"

Chiaki laughed as Ryuunosuke quickly pulled his pants back up in realization, only to take another smack to the head from Takeru, this time a lot more harder.

"Don't laugh."

"That really hurts! Hey, what's with you always hitting me so much?"

"Why don't you start avoiding them? I told you never to let your guard down."

"I said that's not possible!"

"Oh? Watch this."

Takeru snuck up behind Ryuunosuke, who was on the ground trying to put on his hakama and suddenly swung his shinai down at his head without warning. In that split second, Ryuunosuke sensed, dodged the hit, rolling to his right and getting back up to stare at his lord in confusion.

"This for real?" Chiaki asked in amazement.

"Chiaki… You understand that your skills are dragging us all down, right? Sword techniques, Mojikara, samurai knowledge, you are lacking in all these fields. Zenjiro here may not be complaining, but compared to the others, he has to fix your weapons and Origami the most," Takeru continued as he sat down to take a drink.

"What did you say?"

Zenjiro was putting on his jacket when Takeru's words caused him to look up, having sensed a sudden spike in the growing tension between Takeru and Chiaki. The others also found themselves staring at the two of them.

"Say that again, you-"

"Complain to me only when you've gotten stronger. Oh, by the way…"

"What?"

"Jii said for you to write five hundred sheets of characters before the afternoon comes," Takeru said to Chiaki while pointing at a stack of paper on his right, along with a brush and an ink holder, before standing up and going back to spar with Ryuunosuke.

"Why? Why only me? Just what is this place? Am I at school or something? Geez, if I am at school, I might as well at least enjoy high school! I'd have friends and staff!"

Seeing everyone ignoring him, Chiaki turned towards Zenjiro.

"Don't look at me, I'm a busy man. Going to the library and the local crafts shop," Zenjiro replied as he turned and left, leaving Chiaki to deal with his issues alone.

Chiaki sat down beside the stack of paper and glared at Takeru.

"That guy… Acting so full of himself, it pisses me off!" he silently cursed as he grabbed and threw some of the papers in his anger.

* * *

"The water level does not seem to be rising much at all," Dayu commented with a sigh as she stared at the Sanzu River from the Rokumon Junk.

"Of course! The human world is currently in a state of peace, so the water levels of the river won't be rising so fast. Heck, it might even end up decreasing if we are not careful," Shitari explained as he looked up from a book he was holding.

"So then, when will it be rising? When will the river be able to flood the human world so that those humans can sink into it?" Doukoku asked, his temper starting to show signs of rising.

A strange laughter echoed in the air as splashes are heard from the Sanzu river before a strange creature with a pair of large hands climbed up onto the Rokumon Junk.

"Oh, that anger in the voice, the desire for destruction… That's my general!" the figure praised.

"Oh, if it isn't Rokuroneri!" Shitari called out in excitement.

"How have you been, old man Shitari?" Rokuroneri ( _Kneading Pulley_ ) asked as he approached Shitari.

"I've been well. What about you? It has been such a long time. I hope your skills have not degraded."

"The complete opposite, in fact! I've improved so much that I actually frightened myself!" the Ayakashi replied while tapping his own chest.

"Oh, if you really improved that much, why don't you use those big words on the Shinkengers then?"

Shitari gulped. Dayu was known to not get along with most of the Ayakashi, and given that a large number of the Ayakashi were known to be quite confrontational unless it was Doukoku they were talking to and that Rokuroneri was one of those, Shitari knew that a verbal spar was about to begin.

"Heh! You better watch your mouth, shamisen player. If General Doukoku was not here right now, I'll have you dying on the banks of the Sanzu River in a blink of an eye…"

Dayu's bachi suddenly embedded itself on the wooden post Rokuroneri had been resting on, missing his face by a mere fingernail's length, which actually disturbs the Ayakashi enough to make him stare at Dayu warily.

"The one who should be watching his mouth is you, Rokuroneri. A disgusting fellow like you standing up against me? It is simply not funny at all, even for a lame joke."

"You… Always playing the princess… I wonder which one of us is even more pathethic…"

"ENOUGH!"

The Nanashi that had been unfortunate enough to be serving sake to Doukoku was used as a missile by the enraged general, who seized it by the throat and threw it at Dayu and Rokuroneri, forcing them both to back away from each other to avoid getting knocked down by the Nanashi.

"Ooh, ooh, Doukoku's about to lose his temper, ooh!" Shitari said nervously as he went to tend to the injured Nanashi.

"Dayu… Just stop arguing with him already. And you, Rokuroneri, don't go angering Dayu. Just get your ass to the human world and start wrecking havoc."

Dayu lets out a sound of indignance as she retrieved her bachi and walked away while Rokuroneri saluted Doukoku.

"Do not worry, General! That's what I'm going to do! I'll raise the water level of the Sanzu all the way from the bottom! And screw the Shinkengers! I won't let some upstarts like them get in my way!

* * *

"CHIAKI!"

Takeru, who was playing with the Shishi Origami, was startled by Hikoma angrily wlking into the sitting room.

"Oi, Jii, what's wrong?"

"Oh, _tono_ , look at this, please!"

Hikoma presented a sheet of paper which had the following words written on it:

[ _ **Five Hundred Sheets**_ ]

"This is what he did for his five hundred character writing I had him do! I have had my fill with his goofing around! Where did he run off to this time? Chiaki? Gt out here, you rascal!"

As Hikoma continued his search for Chiaki, Takeru went back to staring at the piece of paper, and he could not help but mentally commend Chiaki's ability to think out of the box…

* * *

"Yes! My stress is disappearing!"

Having snuck out of the Shiba Mansion, Chiaki was able to contact his friends from high school, Masato and Kouji, to meet up. At the moment, the three of them were at an arcade playing _Tekken_.

"Man, just as I thought! I really need to chill with you guys just to calm down."

"Well, that's true, but… What have you been doing, actually? Kouji, the bigger of the two, asked.

"Eh?"

"I mean, you didn't come for the high school graduation, and you were not at home either."

Chiaki grimaced.

"A lot of things happened recently, and it was like I got placed in a strange place."

* * *

"Ryuunosuke, before you became a Shinkenger, did you ever fire a bow and arrow before?" Zenjiro asked as he held the Water Arrow in his hands.

"Yes! I knew that the Ikenami Clan's personal weapon was a bow, so I was training myself not only in swordsplay, but also in archery," Ryuunosuke replied.

"Congratulations, you broke the launcher," was all Zenjiro said before turning around to fix it.

"EH?"

"Hey, chill, it'll only take five minutes to get it fix. Just be careful how you fire your Mojikara-created arrows next time or I'll have to modify it back to the traditional strings and notch. Besides, it's not that damaged… Though I can't say the same for Mako's Heaven Fan…"

"What's wrong with it?" Mako asked as she entered Zenjiro's workshop.

"Well, when you slash at the enemy with it, do you use the bladed tips, the winds that it generates when you swing, or both?"

"I… I actually never considered that?"

"Actually, there's nothing wrong with how you fight, but if you balance out when to use both at the same time and when to use one of the two methods, the rate of wear and tear should significantly reduce. Anyways, I've cleaned it up and replaced the metal tips, so it should be good as new the next time you transform your Shinkenmaru into it."

"You know, I never really asked how our personal weapons are stored in our disks," Kotoha commented.

"Here, let me show you."

Placing the repaired Water Arrow onto Ryuunosuke's disk, Zenjiro took out a brush and wrote a single, simple character above it:

[ **入** ]

To everyone's surprise, the Water Arrow disappeared into the disk.

"It just entered the disk?"

"How did you do that?"

"Not all of us who have Mojikara can fight or wish to fight, so we have other methods of utilizing them to aid the samurai," Zenjiro explained.

"Hey, Zenjiro, what strange weapon is that? A crossbow?"

Zenjiro turned to see Ryuunosuke staring at some weird weapon that looked like a horrible mismatch of miniature swords, spears and shields.

"Ah, a failed experiment. I was planning to make a new weapon for either of you guys to use when your swords and personal weapons proved to be not enough. Hopefully, something like that doesn't happen. That thing was supposed to be some sort of javelin launcher, but it blew up in my face, so it's a bust. I can still sell the scrap metal, though…"

* * *

"A period-play school? What's up with that?" Masato asked.

Chiaki and his friends were eating at an outdoor fast-food restaurant where he was coming up with a cover story for his recent inactivity.

"Wait, so you're, like, in another college?" Kouji suggested.

"What the hell, man? We were together all this time!"

"I'm sorry… But still, I don't really like it there at all. All it has is some loud-mouthed old guy and a ' _tono-sama_ ' who likes to throw his weight around…"

" _Tono-sama_?" Masato and Kouji asked at the same time.

"A-Anyways, that guy's a creep! He always looks me in the eye and orders me around. When practicing swordsplay, he always hits me in the head!"

"What is that? That is totally absurd."

"You think so too? Well, anyways, he secretly uses people too much…"

As Chiaki continued to rant, he was unaware of a faint, reddish glow that was travelling via the lines of a pavement behind him until it reached a nearby planter bench with a significant gap between it's protruding portions and the floor. A sunglasses-wearing man was sitting on it and checking his phone when he heard a strange growl from underneath him and bent forward to take a look, just in time to get his head grabbed by a huge claw.

Passers-by screamed in horror as the man is flung into a group of people staring at the scene while a monster emerged from the gap, snickering at the sight of the panicked masses. Chiaki and his friends, upon hearing the screams, turned around just in time to see the Ayakashi striking a man down while grabbing a woman as a hostage.

"What is that thing?" Masato exclaimed.

"Gedoushuu…"

"Gedou?"

"They attack the human world. All those stories about youkai that we've heard about? Most of them originated from these creatures."

"A-A-A-At any rate, we need to get out of here!" Kouji stammered.

"Don't worry about it!"

Chiaki's friends stared at him in surprise as Chiaki cracked his knuckles.

"I'm going off for a little bit!"

"Chiaki!" his friends called out as Chiaki ran towards the Ayakashi.

 _I'll finish things up before Takeru arrives! I've got to show him that I can do this!_ Chiaki thought to himself as he took out his ShodoPhone.

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

[ **木** ]

Transforming into ShinkenGreen, Chiaki struck the Ayakashi, freeing the woman he had been hodling hostage, and began engaging him in a fight.

"Give up, Gedoushuu!" Chiaki taunted the Ayakashi.

"Give up? No one tells Rokuroneri to give up, especially you, Shinkenger!"

Despite not possessing any weapons, Rokuroneri's claws proved to be as hard as rock, and Chiaki failed to do any damage to him despite his furious slashes.

"So! I remember there were supposed to be five of you?"

"Just me is enough to deal with you!"

"Oh, really? Then take this!"

Without warning, Rokuroneri used a feint to catch Chiaki off-guard, and the Wood Samurai was struck so hard by the attack that he actually flipped over a planter.

"Neh heh heh heh! Feel the power of my technique! Kaina Nobashi ( _Stretching Arms_ )!"

Chiaki braced himself for a big attack, but to his surprise, Rokuroneri instead punches the ground below him, sinking both his arms into the ground up to his elbows.

"Eh?" was all Chiaki could utter in confusion before he suddenly sensed rumbling below him.

To his shock, Rokuroneri's claws burst out from the ground, and Chiaki takes two uppercuts at the same time with enough force to sent him flying all the way to the other end of the battleground.

"Neh heh heh heh! You can't dodge fists that you cannot see! That is the power of my Kaina Nobashi!"

"What?"

Sensing the rumbling again, Chiaki managed to dodge the first one, but then he got struck by a second hit. Due to his stumbling, he luckily managed to avoid the third hit, but his luck ran out with the fourth and the fifth, once again being tossed around the place like a ragdoll.

"Run away, run away!" Rokuroneri taunted.

"No! That won't stop me!" Chiaki declared as he got back to his feet and leap over some nearby fixtures, climbing all the way to the roof and preparing to perform an aerial attack on Rokuroneri.

"Idiot! You really think you can escape my arms from up there? Height doesn't matter for me!"

"You got to be kidding me! He can reach all the way up here?" Chiaki exclaimed right before he was subjected to another barrage of stretchy punches which threw him off the roof and to the ground.

"Chiaki!"

"No! Stay back!" Chiaki yelled as Masato and Kouji rushed to his side.

"Oh! Are you friends of this Shinkenger?" Rokuroneri asked right before he suddenly launched explosive boulders from his mouth.

"No! Masato! Kouji!" Chiaki yelled helplessly as he watched his friends get struck by the attack and getting thrown a few feet back, landing on the ground bleeding and unconscious.

"Neh heh heh heh! Don't worry about your friends, it'll be over for you too!" Rokuroneri retorted when suddenly…

"Enough of this!"

"Takeru…" Chiaki weakly uttered out as Takeru, already transformed into ShinkenRed, appeared out of nowhere lunging towards Rokuroneri, striking him five to six times with his weapon and forcing him away from Chiaki.

Meanwhile, the other Shinkengers have also arrived.

"Hey, are you guys all right? Wake up!"

As Kotoha and Mako tended to Chiaki's injured friends, Ryuunosuke went to Chiaki's side when Rokuroneri once again unleashed his Kaina Nobashi attack at Takeru. Takeru, to Chiaki's surprise, moved even before the first attack landed, but he is then caught off-guard by the second attack, which caused him to stumble.

"Very good, ShinkenRed… You actually read my attack even though they are deep underground. Just as expected from the leader of the Shinkengers!" Rokuroneri praised as he clapped his claws in mock applause.

Seeing Chiaki's friends, Takeru pondered for a moment before turning to Ryuunosuke.

"Ryuunosuke! Hurry! Cover our retreat!"

Ryuunosuke spun the disk on his sword immediately upon hearing Takeru's orders.

"Shinkenmaru: Mizu no Maki ( _Water Curtain_ )!"

With water swirling around his blade, Ryuunosuke slided from left to right, creating a wall of water that shielded the Shinkengers and Chiaki's friends from Rokuroneri's view before Ryuunosuke twisted his body and disappeared along with the wall of water, leaving Rokuroneri staring at an empty space.

"What? Neh heh heh heh! Fine, whatever. I was running out of Sanzu Water anyways. I should be going now," the Ayakashi commented before disappearing into a nearby crevice…

* * *

Chiaki winced as Ryuunosuke and a kuroko applied bandages on his wounds while another kuroko wrapped a bandage around Takeru's bruised left arm, the only injury he suffered compared to the dozens that covered Chiaki's body.

"You bloody fool! You abandoned your training! Look what happened to you as a result of you sneaking away! Did you think you can fight alone?"

Kotoha winced at Hikoma's scolding of Chiaki, who could only look away as he puts on his shirt.

"Hey, Chiaki, stop sulking and at least show some remorse," Ryuunosuke said to his younger comrade, his tone towards Chiaki noticeably softer than usual, probably due to what happened earlier.

"We're back."

Despite his injuries, Chiaki was quickly up on his feet as Mako and Zenjiro returned from the hospital wearing solemn expressions.

"How are they?"

Mako looked away while Zenjiro sighed.

"They're out of danger, but… Their injuries were quite severe…" Mako admitted.

"How bad is it? Please, tell me."

Mako turned to Zenjiro, who sighed again as he scratched his head.

"They both have fractured ribs and severe concussions, not to mention a few muscle tears. It's going to be two or three weeks before they can even leave the hospital, and a few more months of physiotherapy before they can go back to doing normal things."

Chiaki's shoulders sagged as he took a step back, the consequences of his actions finally dawning upon him as he sat down.

"Chiaki, I don't want to say this considering the current situation, but you know… It is your fault they were injured," Ryuunosuke said.

"I know that… If only I was strong enough…"

"Wrong!"

Everyone turned to see Takeru standing up from his seat and walking towards Chiaki, a stern look on his face.

"It's not because you were not strong enough. It's because you went to see your friends in the first place! Listen well. We samurai surrendered our posts so that we do not end up involving our friends or family in the battle with the Gedoushuu. This would ensure their safety and prevents them from getting caught up in our personal matters. Because you failed to understand this, you put your friends in danger. That's how they got injured!"

Chiaki said nothing, keeping his head down as he listened to Takeru's lecture.

"Chiaki, find a way to defeat that Ayakashi's technique by tomorrow. If you can't do that… You can return the ShodoPhone."

Now everyone was looking at Takeru, whose choice of words once again had them all in disbelief.

"Shiba- _tono_ , this…" Zenjiro started to speak up but Takeru cuts him off to continue speaking to Chiaki.

"We can only put up with you dragging us down for so long. I will not accept falling down to another level. If you can't even get your head in the game, quit being a samurai!"

Chiaki looked up, a pained expression on his face as he took one glance at Takeru, got up and stormed off, with Kotoha chasing after him and Zenjiro, after a moment's hesitation, followed suit. Ignoring the others, Takeru began to walk away when Hikoma stopped him.

" _Tono_ , what you said just now, that was a little too…"

Takeru half-turned his head to glance at Hikoma, and the older man went silent as an uncomfortable look began to form on his face…

* * *

"Chiaki! Wait!" Kotoha called out as she and Zenjiro finally caught up with Chiaki at the mansion gates.

"Just leave me alone!"

"And then what? You going to challenge the Ayakashi on your own again?" Zenjiro asked.

"Chiaki, _tono-sama_ was not trying to be mean to you. He…"

"Look, I'm not angry… It's just… What he said was true. I was the one who got my friends injured because I did not take my role seriously… Damn it, the truth really hurts, man…"

"Look, Shiba- _tono_ told you to come up with a strategy to beat this Ayakashi, right? He never said you have to do it alone."

"I know that! I just… Sorry, I just wish to be alone for a while… I'll be nearby, don't worry."

With that, Chiaki turned and left, leaving Kotoha staring after him while Zenjiro sighed once again.

In actuality, Chiaki lied about being nearby. Instead, he took a bus to the hospital where Masato and Kouji were, but he did not enter. Instead, he had his Origami find out which ward they were in, and he went to the carpark to stare at the window of their ward, reminiscing over the times they had spent together as guilt consumed him.

 _Masato, Kouji, I'm sorry for dragging you both into this… I won't see you all again until the Gedoushuu are defeated_ , Chiaki thought to himself before turning to leave.

_We samurai surrendered our posts so that we do not end up involving our friends or family in the battle with the Gedoushuu._

As Takeru's words replayed themselves in his mind, a frustrated Chiaki kicked a can that was carelessly dropped in the carpark while seething with self-rage…

* * *

"Ooh, ooh, what is this? The water's increasing!"

Shitari pulled a measuring rod out of the Sanzu River while Rokuroneri swam nearby to recharge his supply of the Sanzu River's water.

"It's working! It's working! Sure, the incease is only by a bit, but it is increasing!" Shitari exclaimed as Doukoku came up behind him.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Yes, yes, I am certain of it!"

"Neh heh heh heh! I'm alive again! I don't regret being born a Gedoushuu, but…"

Rokuroneri climbed aboard the junk.

"It is a pain that we cannot stay away too long from the Sanzu River," he continued.

"So, then, go make the Sanzu River overflow quickly!" Shitari said.

"Of course, I know! Just watch me!"

* * *

It was late at night, but Chiaki had not gone back to the Shiba Mansion. Instead he was at an internet café, having booked a private room where he was playing Pac-Man on his PSP, still frustrated by the events that had happened earlier.

_We can only put up with you dragging us down for so long. I will not accept falling down to another level. If you can't even get your head in the game, quit being a samurai!_

Takeru's words, combined with the memories of the Ayakashi defeating him, caused Chiaki to lose concentration, making him lose the game. Sighing, he dropped the PSP on the table and leaned back against the chair.

"That guy… Why does he have to say things like that?" he asked himself.

Deep inside, Chiaki knew that it was his own ego that started all these troubles. If only he had swallowed his pride…

As the Pac-Man game went into auto mode, Chiaki was about to grab the PSP and leave when he suddenly noticed something about the game, and an idea suddenly hits him. Tucking his PSP away, he quickly left the internet café and took off running.

Reaching the site of the first Gedoushuu attack, Chiaki, who had picked up a particularly long stick on his way, looked around to make sure that there was no one about before befoe getting down on one knee and placing both hands against the ground as thoughts raced through his mind.

_Unless I can read the Ayakashi's plan of attack, dodging them will be difficult… But…_

* * *

_If one can read the aura of the Ayakashi, then that technique…_

Takeru, having gotten tired of waiting for Chiaki to return, went alone to the courtyard with a shinai to clear his thoughts while the others slept, still thinking about the technique the Ayakashi had used.

Secretly, he did feel that he had been too harsh on Chiaki, but at the same time, he needed Chiaki to understand how serious the battle with the Gedoushuu was. He did not want to criticize Chiaki failing to avoid getting hit by the Ayakashi since he himself only managed to dodge the first hit.

Like Chiaki, he himself also needed more training.

* * *

 _I'll do it… For sure!_ Chiaki thought to himself as he took off running with the stick in his hand.

After a good distance, Chiaki skidded to a halt and swung the stick like it was his Shinkenmaru, seriously practicing his swordsmanship for the first time since becoming a Shinkenger.

After a few swings, Chiaki ocne again began running, but this time, instead of skidding to a halt, he leapt into the air and swung the stick downwards in a diagonal direction…

* * *

Having meditated long enough, Takeru got up and stepped into the courtyard, noting how it was a full moon night.

Instead of swinging his shinai, he simply closed his eyes while holding it in a ready position, waiting, waiting…

As a leaf, blown by the wind, floated pat him, Takeru opened his eyes and swung the shinai downwards, striking the leaf to the ground…

* * *

It was the morning of a new day, but the air was filled with screams of fear as Rokuroneri and the Nanashi-renju launched a new attack on the human world.

"Neh heh heh heh! No use in running away from me! Instead of being swallowed by thr Sanzu River, it's better for you all to be killed by me!" Rokuroneri said as he entangled some humans in his arms and began crushing them.

The sound of drumbeats caused him to release his hold on the humans as they fell to the ground, clutching their limbs and chests in pain. Turning around, he saw the white banners with the familiar family crest upon it as Takeru, Mako, Ryuunosuke and Kotoha stood before him, ready to fight.

"Oh, so you're all here?"

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

[ **天** ] [ **火** ] [ **水** ] [ **土** ]

The four transformed into their Shinkengers form, during which the distraction provided them allowed Zenjiro to evacuate all the Gedoushuu's victims via the shadows, bringing them to the kuroko so that they can get them to the hospital.

"The Samurai Sentai authorized by Providence…"

"Shinkengers, going forth!"

"My, my, my, there's only four of you. What happened to the green one? Did he get so beat up by my technique that he don't dare to show his face anymore?" Rokuroneri asked.

"About that…"

"Hey! You looking for me?"

Without warning, Chiaki somersaulted over the Shiba banner, landing in front of the other Shinkengers.

"Chiaki, you came back!" Kotoha said as she approached him, but then Chiaki held out a hand to stop her from coming closer.

"Hey, Takeru. About what you said, I got it. I won't be dragging you all down anymore, because from now on, I'll be fighting by myself."

"What do you mean by that?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"I've already made my decision. IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

[ **木** ]

Transforming into ShinkenGreen, Chiaki aimed his Shinkenmaru at Rokuroneri.

"That Ayakashi… He's my opponent! I'll be taking you down!"

Without waiting for the others, Chiaki charged into the fray.

"Looks like bravado's the only thing you've got up your sleeves! Get him!" Rokuroneri ordered the Nanashi, who all then proceed to surge forward.

To the others' surprise, Chiaki's swordsmanship had significantly improved as he now had little difficulty cutting his way through the Nanashi on his own unlike the previous two engagements.

"What nonsense is he sprouting?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"We'll ask later. Let's go!" Takeru replied, and the rest of the Shinkengers joined in on the attack.

As Chiaki lured Rokuroneri away, the rest of the Shinkengers began unleashing their respective sword techniques on the Nanashi.

"Shinkenmaru: Kaen no Mai!"

A flaming whip is unleashed from Takeru's weapon which cuts through the Nanashi and sets them ablaze as well.

"Shinkenmaru: Suiryu no Mai!"

An energy slash is launched by Ryuunosuke at the Nanashi, causing a miniature tidal wave to form which smashed into the Nanashi, while those that avoided it gets hit by sudden bursts of water erupting from the ground.

"Shinkenmaru: Tenku no Mai!"

Mako's attack resulting in strong, cutting winds being blown at the Nanashi, sending several of them flying away while those that held their ground are slashed by the winds.

"Shinkenmaru: Tsuchikemuri no Mai!"

Kotoha struck the ground with her Shinkenmaru, creating a wave of dirt that cleaved through the Nanashi's ranks with the ground exploding around them.

As more Nanashi appeared, Takeru loaded a silver disk into his Shinkenmaru and spun it.

"Shinkenmaru: Raiden no Mai!"

Electricity began flowing through Takeru's Shinkenmaru as he raised it into the air to collect energy before performing a horizontal swing with it, sending bolts of lightning snaking through the gathered Nanashi, blasting them left and right and wiping them all out.

Meanwhile, Chiaki was still fighting Rokuroneri. The Ayakashi was starting to notice that Chiaki was not so easily beaten as before, for he was now parrying more of his attacks and landing quite a few hits on him. However, Rokuroneri still outranked him in the strength department, and he was able to send Chiaki flying again with two well-timed hits, yet to his shock, Chiaki actually landed on his feet.

"Neh heh heh heh! You seemed to hav gotten a bit stronger, but you still ain't got enough to beat me!"

"In that case, why don't you try and catch me?" Chiaki taunted.

"Don't get cocky, you brat! You want to see my technique again? Fine! Kaina Nobashi!"

As Rokuroneri plunged both hands into the ground, Chiaki turned and began running.

"Hey! You said nothing can escape your arms, right? You still haven't caught me!" he taunted the Ayakashi.

"What, so your strategy is just to run? It's useless!"

Chiaki continued running, dodging the arms and weaving in and out of whatever corners and openings he could find as Rokuroneri continued to extend his arms, eventually making his way round to the building that was behind Rokuroneri.

"Getting behind me won't work! No matter how much you run, my arms will eventually catch you!" Rokuroneri called out as he turned his body around while his arms remained underground.

Chiaki dodged even more of the blows as they began to wreck havoc around the cramped carpark, even wrapping around a few pillars in an attempt to catch Chiaki off-guard, though the Wood Samurai's reflexes proved to be quite top-notch as he avoided them until he was right behind the Ayakashi.

"Quit flitting around!" Rokuroneri yelled as one of his fists suddenly burst out near Chiaki, only for Takeru to appear out of nowhere and block it.

"Takeru!"

"Hey, did you forget that I have two arms?"

Another fist popped out from the ground and caught Takeru in the stomach, pinning him against a pillar while the one he blocked burst back into the ground to go after Chiaki, who instead began running straight at Rokuroneri, which surprised him long enough for Chiaki to jump over his head and grab him from behind.

"Hey! What are you doing, you cur?"

Distracted by his opponent, Rokuroneri failed to stop his own fist in time as it burst from his feet and struck him in the face.

"Why you…"

"Hey, how about you retract your arms and we can get into another round?" Chiaki taunted.

"Cocky brat! I'll finish you o- What the hell? I can't call back my arms!"

Looking up, Takeru realized Chiaki had somehow tricked Rokuroneri not only into overstretching his arms, but had also gotten them all tangled up around several pillars, trees and even each other, effectively trapping the Ayakashi.

"Who's the cocky one now, you idiot?" Chiaki asked Rokuroneri as he loaded his personal disk into his Shinkenmaru and spun it, causing phantom leaves to begin forming around the blade.

"No! Wait! Stop!"

"Shinkenmaru: Kogarashi no Mai!"

Delivering a slash through Rokuroneri's chest, the phantom leaves acted like a chainsaw, allowing the sword to cleave right through the Ayakashi's rock-like body. Rokuroneri screamed in pain before exploding, signalling the end of his first life as the other Shinkengers gathered around them.

"You did it, Chiaki! That was amazing!" Kotoha exclaimed as she shook Chiaki's shoulders.

"Oh, it was nothing…"

"However, that was not because of his swordsmanship- Ow!"

"Shut up, you idiot," Chiaki complained, having just smacked Ryuunosuke in the head with the flat part of his Shinkenmaru.

"Hey, give it a rest already! He defeated his opponent, right?" Mako asked, to which Ryuunosuke relented, though he still folded his arms and looked away.

"It's not over yet, get ready for his second life," Takeru said.

As Rokuroneri grew to a giant from having to use his second life, Chiaki pulled out the Kuma Origami.

"Even if it's his second life, I can still defeat him on my own," he declared as he enlarged his Origami, entered it and charged towards Rokuroneri.

"Bring it!" the Ayakashi yelled as he began firing boulders from his mouth at the Kuma Origami, who still managed to get close to him and began dealing a series of slashes to his torso with its claws until he kicked the Origami away like a soccer ball.

"Oi, I said I'll take care of it myself!" Chiaki complained as the other four Origami caught the Kuma Origami.

"Will you just keep quiet and cooperate?" Ryuunosuke replied while Takeru initiated the combination, with the five Origami combining to form their mecha.

"Samurai Gattai: Shinken-Oh!"

"Hey, I already said I'll fight on my own! Didn't you say I would only drag you-"

"Silence," Takeru snapped at Chiaki.

"You…"

"Chiaki, we're in the middle of a battle," Mako interrupted.

"Exactly, if you-"

"He's coming!" Takeru cuts Ryuunosuke off.

Rokuroneri was again launching his boulder spit attack, which Shinken-Oh defended against with its shield before stomping towards Rokuroneri.

"This time around, you will definitely fall victim to my technique!" Rokuroneri declared as he planted his arms into the ground again.

To the surprise of the Shinkengers, Takeru had the Shinken-Oh keep its shield and placed both hands on the sword before going into a stand-by stance.

"Hey, why are we just standing around? You want to get attacked? Run!" Chiaki urged Takeru.

"It's simple. All we need to do is dodge it."

"And I'm telling you it's impossible!"

"Cosidering how bloodthirsty his aura is, we can definitely read his attack and dodge it."

With that, Takeru closed his eyes and began to prepare himself mentally. Seeing him like this, even Chiaki opted to remain silent. As seconds passed, the tension became more and more thick within the cockpit of Shinken-Oh.

On the ground, Zenjiro and the kuroko watched nervously as the standoff between Shinken-Oh and the Rokuroneri continued in silence, but then Rokuroneri burst out laughing.

"Did you guys just give up? If so, then die! Kaina Nobashi!"

Rokuroneri's arms burst from the ground, at the same time Takeru opened his eyes and reacted.

"Now!"

"What? Impossible!" Rokuroneri exclaimed.

On the ground, Zenjiro and the kuroko started jumping up and down while cheering as Shinken-Oh, in one swift movement, blocked one arm with its blade and stomped right down on the other.

" _Tono_ , well done!" Ryuunosuke praised.

In another swift movement, Shinken-Oh had sliced off both of Rokuroneri's arms, leaving him crying out in pain and shock.

"Finish him," Takeru said as he and the other Shinkengers drew their Shinkenmaru from their slots and prepared to deal the death blow.

"Daishinken! Samurai Giri!"

Rokuroneri screamed again as the energized blade cleaved right through his body.

[ **斬** ]

"NO!" he yelled right before slowly falling to the ground and exploding.

"This brings this act to a close," Takeru declared.

"We really did it, didn't we, _tono_?"

"Yeah, we did."

"As expected!"

"As expected from our lord, indeed!"

Chiaki did not join the conversation, instead thinking about what just happened as well as his recent actions…

* * *

"Such a quick battle. I guess I won't be fixing anything tonight, eh?" Zenjiro commented as the Shinkengers, back in civilian form, prepared to go home.

To Zenjiro's surprise, Takeru did not reply, instead walking past him.

"What happened?" Zenjiro asked.

"We don't know. He has been silent ever since we finished the battle," Mako replied.

Chiaki, who was standing nearby, looked like he wanted to say something, but then Takeru walked past him as well, completely ignoring him.

"It's about Chiaki, isn't it?" Zenjiro asked again.

" _Tono_! Please, wait a moment!" Ryuunosuke called out to Takeru awhile looking back at Chiaki with a worried expression.

"Are you going to ignore Chiaki?" Kotoha asked as well.

Takeru said nothing but kept on walking until…

"Takeru!"

This time, Takeru stopped in his tracks.

"No… _**Tono**_ _…_ "

Chiaki, to everyone's shock got to one knee as he said the one word that he had been most reluctant to say while bowing his head.

"Please, let me fight with you once again."

The other retainers and Zenjiro stared at Chiaki, almost impressed by the youth finally letting go of his ego, but then turned to stare at Takeru, who had not turned around at all, wondering if he was really going to cast aside…

"Did you really think I'll allow you to quit in the first place?"

Takeru, whose back was still facing the others, walked off after saying those words. Chiaki, realizing he had been wrong about Takeru, could only let out a small breath of relief at the outcome.

"Thank goodness! Chiaki, well said! You've finally got it, did you? You've syre grown up a bit!" Ryuunosuke said to Chiaki before he and the girls, thankful for everyone finally coming to terms with each other, followed after Takeru while telling Chiaki to hurry up.

As Chiaki got back up to his feet to follow the rest, he thought back to the entire battle earlier. To be honest, his plan was a heavy-handed sink-or-swim one. One blunder and the whole thing would have failed.

He had doubted Takeru when he expressed his confidence in seeing through the Ayakashi's attack, yet the Fire Samurai proved that he was not boasting around. Chiaki also knew that Takeru blocking the earlier attack during Rokuroneri's first life was not by luck: He had somehow read the pattern of the attack despite how random the direction of the attack was, and had he had not distracted the enemy, Chiaki's plan would have gone bust.

He did not win on his own. In the end, he was still outclassed by the lord. But perhaps it was not such a bad thing after all, for as Chiaki finally started walking, he watched Takeru from behind as a new goal began forming within his heart.

_It's not over… One day… I'll definitely get better than him one day, so that he will acknowledge me as an equal…_

* * *

_The young samurai, Tani Chiaki…_

_It seems he has finally attained a goal as a Shinkenger._

_With that, Shinkengers Act 3 comes to a close…_

* * *

It was late at night, but Zenjiro could not sleep.

Sitting on his chair beside the worktable, he stared at a black disk in his hands. Unlike the common black disks used by the samurai, this one had silver lines on it and bore images of owls on it. The disk was not one of those he was doing maintenance for the Shiba Clan, but it had came in a parcel delivered to him personally from his mother with only a single note attached to the disk:

_For the day when you need to do more than heal and fix to aid the Shiba_

_What did she even mean by that?_ Zenjiro thought to himself as he sighed…


	4. Act 4: Nightly Tears of Sympathy

Ever since the encounter with Rokuroneri, Chiaki has began taking his training more seriously, proving to be a fast learner despite his tendency to slack off and the results were showing. He has improved greatly not only in swordsmanship, but also in his brush strokes. Even his relationship with Takeru has changed for the better, with the others witnessing the usually stoic and silent lord actually engaging in a long conversation with Chiaki at one point.

At the moment, Chiaki was in the sitting area with Kotoha watching over his character writing, and as he completed the kanji for leaves, the flurry of leaves that burst forth from the character itself was a lot stronger than the ones he had produced the previous week.

"Alright!" Chiaki cheered as Kotoha clapped.

"Chiaki-kun, you really are improving a lot!" she said.

"After all that self-training and Jii-san's scoldings, how could I not?"

"Well done."

Chiaki looked up to see Ryuunosuke approaching.

"A samurai's life sure is a hard one, right? You can talk to me if you need anything."

"I told you, I'm fine! How many times are you going to ask?"

Ignoring Chiaki's annoyance at him, Ryuunosuke turned to Kotoha.

"Kotoha, if you have any worries, tell me right away."

"Worries?"

"Like if you ever feel like going home…"

"Why?"

"Or if you are feeling lonely…"

"I look for Zenjiro-kun when that happens, actually…"

As Ryuunosuke is distracted by Kotoha, Chiaki took the opportunity to leave the sitting area as Takeru and Zenjiro approached, deep in conversation.

"I just need a few more days of infusing Mojikara into it, then it can be fully revived, but the problem is that it's simply too powerful. You guys will need to build up a lot of Mojikara to-"

"Never mind that. Just what is Ryuunosuke doing exactly?" Takeru changed the question as he stared at Ryuunosuke having an awkward conversation with Kotoha while Chiaki walked towards them with a frustrated look on his face.

"I do not know. Jii-san said he has been like this since Chiaki here addressed you as _tono_ ," Zenjiro replied.

"What is that?" Chiaki asked as he tilted his head towards the Water Samurai's direction.

"Probably just kindness. Unnecessary kindness. Not exactly a bad thing but a bit excessive."

"That's why it's starting to become a problem!"

Takeru merely shook his head as he continued watching the scene play out, with Kotoha unwittingly shutting Ryuunosuke down with a gentle reply that nothing was bothering her at the moment before the latter turned his attention to Mako, who was quietly reading a cooking magazine and completely ignoring Ryuunosuke's antics.

"Mako! You aren't saying anything. You're biting you tongue on something, isn't it? If I can help, you can tell me."

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You're annoying."

"Yeah-Huh?"

Chiaki and Zenjiro tried to control their urge to laugh upon hearing what Mako just said while Ryuunosuke stared at Mako in stunned silence.

"Oh, man! Just what you expect from _nee-san_!" Chiaki commented while Takeru, who was also caught off-guard by Mako's reaction to Ryuunosuke's words, merely nodded, himself also trying to restrain a sudden urge to laugh.

Ryuunosuke, racking his own brain to try and understand what Mako just said to him, turned back to Mako and was about to say something else to her when she smacked him on the head with the spine of the magazine, causing him to recoil as he clutched the top of his head in pain while quietly apologizing to her. At this point, Zenjiro gave up, dropped all pretenses and started laughing away…

* * *

The Sanzu River was particularly calm today, but in the middle of the river swam a strange figure making rather inappropriate sounds as he backstroked his way towards the Rokumon Junk, with Dayu being the first to lay eyes upon him.

"The tide's brought a strange fellow straight towards the ship, it would seem," Dayu commented, catching Doukoku's attention.

"Eh, is that not Namiayashi?" Doukoku asked in mild surprise as he turned to the window and saw the figure for himself.

"The scent of human tears, the sound of human screams, oh! They make me feel so giddy…. Hee hee hee hee hee…" The Ayakashi known as Namiayashi ( _Strange Tears_ ) said in a sing-song manner as he did a barrel roll in the water.

"Grrr… That bastard's still as creepy as he was back in those days," Doukoku muttered as he turned away from the window just in time to see Namiayashi climb aboard the Rokumon Junk, revealing himself to be a tiger-like humanoid creature whose body was split equally from head to crotch between a tiger-like right side and a reddish left side.

"General! Oh, how could you say something so mean to me? After all, you were the one who summoned me, is it not? Hee hee hee hee hee…"

"What crap are you sprouting? I never summoned you."

"Ooh, General, please forgive me! I was the one who summoned Namiayashi," Shitari said as he emerged from the back of the junk and made his way towards Namiayashi.

"There better be a good reason for having this freak in front of me, Shitari."

'I actually asked Namiayashi to come and help increase the water levels of the Sanzu River," Shitari explained as he began creating a concoction using some tools that Doukoku had placed at one side after finding no use for them.

"Help? From this perversed degenerate?" Dayu asked incredulously.

"That's just it, exactly! See, the tears born from a single human's deepest sadness might be worth the tears of a hundred humans! In other words, make people fear and there will be tears," Shitari continued.

"Hee hee hee hee hee! That is why I'm here!" Namiayashi added.

"In that case, what the fuck are you waiting for? Get your ass off my vessel and go make the river overflow already! We are neither alive, nor are we dead! All we can do is remain in this blasted place! THIS IS THE SUFFERING OF THE GEDOUSHUU!"

A furious Doukoku landed a kick on one of the pillars on the Rokumon Junk, sending it swaying violently left and right once again. While everyone else were panicking, Namiayashi continued his deranged giggles.

"Why must those garbage that call themselves humans stick together?!" Doukoku snarled as he finally clams down and sat back down.

"Do not worry, General. I shall clear away all your gloom. All I need to do is make a single wretched human cry, right? Hee hee hee hee hee!" Namiayashi said to Doukoku before leaving the ship.

* * *

At a shrine in the southern parts of the city, a young boy silently watched as construction workers left for their lunch break, waiting for them to leave the shrine so that he can make a prayer with a small ema in his hands. In his other hand was a purple charm that appeared to be handmade.

Once he was alone, the boy was distracted from going towards the shrine by a strange sound coming from underneath the contruction area. Approaching it, he was surprised to see the gaps between one of the boards glowing bright red while a Sukima Sensor Bell hidden near the shrine's entrance was triggered…

* * *

"Cat food?"

"That is exactly what it is," Hikoma replied Chiaki's question as he held a plate of weird-looking food in his hands.

"But we don't have cats here…"

Hikoma scratched his head and sighed.

"Zenjiro must have snuck one in while me and the kuroko were distracted," he said at last.

"Jii-san, how can you be sure it was Zenjiro-kun?" Kotoha asked.

"Zenjiro has a strange affinity with animals. For some reason, they are quite attracted to him."

"Perhaps it's his Mojikara?"

"No, his Mojikara's strength is in healing, support, and should he wish to, illusions as well. Animals liking him is something of his own ability. When he first came to live with us, a group of stray cats and dogs followed him from the train station all the way to our front gates. Now he keeps crows at the back of the mansion which he sometimes use as scouts for us, and then there's the wild animals that lived around the mansion…"

"But he's not allowed to keep a cat?"

"Well, about that, we never said he can't, but…"

Hikoma paused as he, Chiaki and Kotoha saw Zenjiro walking from the backyard to his workshop with a small tabby in his arms and a plastic bag in one hand.

"All right, Nyaako, go play around on your own, but no going into the kitchen and no pooping in random places. I got you a freaking litter box for a good reason," Zenjiro said to the cat, which meowed and jumped off his arms, quickly wandering towards the direction of the three, stopping to sit down in front of them.

"So he really has a cat," Hikoma said at last.

"Nyaako?" Chiaki asked.

"It's so small, and cute…" Kotoha commented as she picked up the cat, which gave her an affectionate purr.

"Hey, I just realized something."

"What is it?"

"When did Zenjiro started wearing such thick glasses?"

Kotoha and Hikoma stared at Chiaki.

"You didn't notice? There were times where he showed up in front of us wearing them. He wore them during our second battle with the Gedoushuu, and again when he went to the hospital to check on your friends two days ago," Kotoha said.

"He started wears contact lens due to his glasses breaking every now and then, but recently reverted to wearing glasses again. It seems that wearing contact lens for more than half a day will result in him suffering from conjunctivitis," Hikoma explained.

Meanwhile, the now-bespectacled Zenjiro opened the trashcans and dumped the plastic bag, most probably containing cat poop given what he said earlier, into it before walking off, not even noticing the others observing him all the time. As he entered the sitting area, Zenjiro sighed at the sight of Ryuunosuke "harassing" the kuroko with offers to help them with their chores.

"Man, does he ever give up?" Zenjiro muttered under his breath as he went over to talk to Ryuunosuke only to hear the Sukima Sensor being triggered.

As Hikoma and the other Shinkengers arrived at the sitting area, Zenjiro held up a stick that came out from the Sukima Sensor.

"Location is at Kambei Shrine," he said as he passed the stick to Hikoma while the kuroko presented the location on a map they had brought in with them.

"Hey, Zenjiro, I know now's not the time, but when did you start wearing glasses?" Mako suddenly asked.

Takeru and Ryuunosuke looked at each other before turning towards Mako.

"You didn't notice?" they asked Mako in unison, causing her to become confused.

* * *

"So, what do you think, boy? Deal sounds pretty good, eh?" Namiayashi asked the boy who was cowering on the ground at the sight of him.

"R-r-really?"

"Of course! It is a promise, after all."

The boy started staring at the charm in his hands while Namiayashi held out a hand, only to sense danger behind him, causing him to turned around and parry an attack from a red-clad warrior.

"Shinkengers!" the Ayakashi growled as Takeru forced him away from the boy.

As the Fire Samurai swung at him again, Namiayashi caught his opponent's wrist using the tiger's head on the right side of his body to literally bite down on it before knocking him away, only to be ambushed by Ryuunosuke and Chiaki, both of whom landed an overhead blow on him and forcing him backwards. Meanwhile, Mako and Kotoha arrived at the boy's side, standing in front of him with their blades aimed at Namiayashi.

"Gedoushuu! What are you planning to do with that boy?" Takeru demanded.

"Oh, quit with those accusations! That boy and me just became good friends with each other, right, boy?"

Even without seeing the boy's confused expression, it was obvious to the samurai that the Ayakashi was lying.

"Don't bullshit us!" Chiaki yelled as he, Takeru and Ryuunosuke charged forward to engage Namiayashi.

"Run!" Kotoha said to the boy before she and Mako went to join the fight, with the boy hesitating for a moment before picking himself up and dashing off.

Despite his mannerism and being unarmed, Namiayashi was surprisingly difficult to fight against. He dodged the swift attacks from his opponents with a grace unfitting for his size and appearance, and was able to catch and push aside their blades with his bare hands without fear of being cut. Eventually, however, the Ayakashi grew tired of the fight and leap over their heads to the roof of the shrine, whipping out a bamboo spear from the bamboo-like structure that was on his tiger half of the body.

"I ain't got business with you all! Eat this!"

Aiming the spear at the Shinkengers like a rifle, Namiayashi fired off a blast of energy from the tip of his weapon, blasting them aside. As the Shinkengers recovered from the attack, Namiayashi laughed at them.

"Oh, you Shinkengers just wait. The fun begins, starting now… Hee hee hee hee hee!"

With that taunt, Namiayashi disappeared back into a nearby gap, returning to the Sanzu River.

"That bastard! What does he mean by fun?" Chiaki cursed as the Shinkengers, now back on their feet, contemplated what the Ayakashi had just said.

"It does worry me… Not to mention the boy just now. Could it be…" Mako asked.

"Yeah, it might be. Split up and find the boy."

The other Shinkengers nodded and started off the search, going in different directions while Takeru makes a call with his Shodophone.

"Zenjiro, I need your crows' aid."

" _No problem. Who are you looking for?_ "

"A boy. Baseball cap and pants. Elementary school age."

" _I'll send my crows out now._ "

* * *

"Did you find anything?" Chiaki asked as he and Kotoha met up outside a convenience store.

"No. No sign of the boy. But there was a weird crow following me around," Kotoha replied.

"Funny, I was also being followed by a crow earlier…"

* * *

"Mako, did you see the boy?" Ryuunosuke asked as he and Mako met up on an overhead bridge.

"No luck. But if I recall, that boy was wearing a baseball uniform. If we narrow it down, he just need to search ever baseball field in the area, right?"

"I guess so, but there is at least twenty of them in the entire area, minus the bid stadium…"

A crow suddenly landed in front of the two, looking at them inquisitively. As Mako and Ryuunosuke reacted to its sudden presence, they noticed it wore a small collar made of thread and there was a piece of silk cloth attached to it bearing the family crest of the Shiba Clan.

The crow took off, landing at the ledge near the stairs leading down to the street, and then started pointing at the direction of a nearby baseball field located at the outskirts of the city with its beak while cawing.

"Is it telling us that we'll find the boy there?" Mako asked.

"Let's go and find out," Ryuunosuke replied before he and Mako headed towards the field while the crow took off after them.

* * *

"Alright, everyone! That's it for today! Rest well for tomorrow's game!"

"Yes, coach!"

"You may go now!"

"Thank you coach!"

As the kids left the baseball field, the coach stopped one of the kids.

"Ryota, you've been doing well, but are you all right? You've not been yourself the past few days," the coach asked.

"I'm fine. Just…"

The coach nodded and ruffled Ryota's head.

"Don't overexert yourself. Go rest, okay?"

The boy, Ryota, nodded before leaving, glumly taking his bicycle and putting on his jacket before making his way out of the field.

_Don't you want to see your grandfather again?_

The words spoken to him by the monster that had appeared at the shrine resounded themselves in Ryota's mind. The monster had claimed to be from the afterlife, that he had encountered his grandfather's soul, and that he had the power to bring souls back to the living world, even for a short while. The catch was that Ryota cannot tell anyone about him since it was against the rules to bring souls back to the living, but then those five showed up and started attacking the monster…

"Hi there, can I call you Ryota-kun? We'd like to ask you something."

Ryota was snapped out of his thoughts by a young woman approaching him alongside a young man in blue.

"At the shrine, the Gedous- I mean, that monster-like guy, he was talking to you, was he not?" the young man asked.

Ryota swallowed.

"It's not really much of a big deal. We just want to know what he told you."

"Nothing. He told me nothing, apart from wanting to eat me. That's all."

Something tells Ryota that the two of them knew he was lying.

"It's okay. We're your friends, right?" the woman asked.

"I already told you! He said nothing to me!"

With that, Ryota jumped onto his bicycle and pedalled away. He saw the man about to give chase, but the woman held him back and he turend away.

 _I can't tell them! If I do so, grandfather… I won't get to see him again!_ Ryota thought to himself.

* * *

"Why did you stop me, Mako? He was clearly lying through his teeth!" Ryuunosuke complained.

"He's just a kid! We can't force him to give us an answer. Let's just watch him for now," Mako replied as the two of them watched Ryota cycle off.

Ryuunosuke agreed, and the two of them started following Ryota from a distance.

* * *

Chiaki and Kotoha had made it back to the Shiba Mansion earlier, and Hikoma had asked them to find Zenjiro to get information about the Ayakashi. Zenjiro, not understanding what they were trying to tell him, had told them to describe the Ayakashi to him while he draw it out.

"Yeah, like the Batman villain with two faces, but the entire body," Chiaki explained to Zenjiro who was holding a pencil and a sketchbook.

"Er, okay."

"The right side looked like a tiger," Kotoha added.

"So it was stripped on the right?"

"No, it looked like it had an entire tiger sculpture attached to its right side. Even had a bamboo stick on it."

"Wut?"

Zenjiro turned towards Chiaki with a very strange look on his face.

"That's not what I meant!" Chiaki yelled as he realized what Zenjiro was thinking about.

"Oh, sorry… What about his left side?"

"It was all red, and like ocean waves from ancient Japanese artwork," Kotoha replied.

"Er… Okay. So he looks something like this?"

Zenjiro held out the finished sketch, which resembled a cartoonish tiger holding a bamboo stick like a sword with a tidal wave coming out its back. Kotoha and Chiaki sighed and shook their heads.

"It's something like that, but that's just not it!" Chiaki complained.

"Tiger right side, water-like left side… Hmmm…"

Grabbing one of the books that had been stacked up on his left, Zenjiro flipped though it rapidly before putting it on the right and repeating said actions with the other books. After putting aside the fourth book, Zenjiro paused at one particular page on the fifth book.

"This guy?" he asked the two while pointing at the page.

"Yeah, that guy! That's the one we fought!"

Zenjiro whistled.

" _Yare yare_ , we got a nasty one here. Namiayashi is, according to these records, a perversed Ayakashi who likes to prey on those with strong desires. It is said even the other Ayakashi are repulsed by his behavior. It says here that he's not particularly strong, but whenever he shows up, despair is sure to follows."

"Yeah, he's got this crazy spear with him as well."

"Aodake Dankatsusō. That spear's a part of his right side, apparently. Apart from being able to fire a bolt of dark energy from the blade, there isn't anything special about it despite its fancy name. Just break it into two the next time you guys fight him."

"But what does it mean by 'despair follows' whenever he shows up?"

"The first three Ayakashi you guys fought: Kagekamuro, Ootsumuji, Rokuroneri, those guys were frontline attackers. This Namiayashi, he's more on the scheming side, preys only on the weak-willed by manipulating them into doing things they would normally not do. He only fights when cornered," Zenjiro explained.

"Doesn't make him sound any less dangerous," Chiaki commented, to which Zenjiro and Kotoha nodded.

* * *

Mako and Ryuunosuke watched as Ryota practiced his baseball swings outside the front door of his home, hiding at a playground that was out of his line of sight.

"Did he not just practice? It's so strange. I wonder if the Gedoushuu said something to him…" Mako mused as she sat down on a bench.

"No, it's not that. I understand him. He just can't stop practicing."

"But his coach told him to rest for the day… Eh?"

Mako stared incredulously at Ryuunosuke trying to hide behind a tree to prevent her from seeing the tears coming down his eyes, though he failed to suppress a sob.

"Wait, what is wrong with you?"

Ryuunosuke quickly wiped his face and turned away from Mako while composing himself as much as he could.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to… It's just that watching him made me remember something. I used to practice kabuki in the same way as he practices baseball. I remembered how on the day before my first performance as a child, I was so anxious and nervous that I ended up spending the night continuing to practice."

"I see…"

"But why is this happening right now? It's so strange."

Ryuunosuke walked towards the slide at the playground, clearly having some sort of internal conflict. Having been taking care of children for quite some time, Mako's sisterly instincts immediately picked up what his issues were.

"I get it! You're homesick, aren't you?" Mako asked as she approached Ryuunosuke.

"What nonsense is that? A samurai is not that pathetic to be homesi-"

"It all makes sense now, does it not? That is the reason why you keep going around asking about everyone's worries. So there really are guys that do the opposite when they are depressed…" Mako continued, ignoring Ryuunosuke's rebuttal.

"That's not true! I'm just… Just…"

The protective shell he formed around himself shattered, Ryuunosuke breaks down.

"I'm just pathetic. You're right, Mako. I am homesick. Even after coming all the way here to fulfill my clan's obligations as a samurai, my mind is still at the stage of the theater my family has owned for generations. I just could not fully give up kabuki…"

"Wait… Ryuunosuke…"

"Mako, you made a clean break from your dreams, right? Compared to me, I'm just… It's so unmanly of me…"

"Just stop saying such things… I can't stand weak guys like that…"

"I know! Plase push me away with all your might! No, wait, please hit me!"

"Like I said, I can't…"

At a lost for words due to frustration, Mako turned around, her arms raised as she stomped towards Ryuunosuke. For a moment, Ryuunosuke thought she was really going to hit him, but instead, he felt her pull him into a hug, which left him speechless.

"Idiot… Now I can't resist helping you out…" the Sky Samurai complained to her comrade.

* * *

"Hey, what's with all that smoke? Did Zenjiro blow something up again?" Takeru demanded to know as he entered the smoky corridor that leads to the kitchen as well as Zenjiro's workshop.

"Nah, everything's fine. It's not a fire or anything like that," Chiaki replied as he and Kotoha stood outside the kitchen staring at whatever is going on inside.

"What is happening, then?"

"That."

Following Chiaki's finger, Takeru looked into the kitchen only to see a nightmarish scene that would make even a certain foul-mouthed celebrity chef flee in terror. Whatever Mako was cooking, it was turning the kitchen into a gas chamber as a kuroko armed with a fire extinguisher tried to figure out what to do with all the thick smoke while Zenjiro, wearing a gas mask, was trying to rescue whatever food supply in the fridge that was still untouched by the Sky Samurai along with three other kuroko.

To her credit, Mako was more focused on cooking despite the chaos erupting around her.

"What on Earth is she doing?" Takeru asked as the kuroko and Zenjiro, their arms full of food and other cooking supplies, exited via the side door of the kitchen.

"Remember that kid at the shrine who the Ayakashi was talking to? She and Ryuunosuke are keeping an eye on him. Since it's late, she came back to prepare dinner while Ryuunosuke remained behind," Chiaki explained.

"Can't she have the kuroko do it? Besides, the kitchen is one of the few places in the mansion where Zenjiro de-stresses himself, and now she's gone and ruin his personal little piece of Heaven. I'm surprised he hasn't broken down and started crying."

"But it seems Mako-chan told him that Ryuu-san is homesick, and she's taking care of him, so Zenjiro-kun tried to help her out. Right now, she's making an _obento_."

"Seeing Mako cook doesn't make sense to me at all!"

"Me either," Chiaki added, agreeing with Takeru as they watched her try to slice a pumpkin with the wrong knife.

"Mako-chan sure is nice… She said she'd help me with the housework since I'm not good at it. I remember she told me that her dream is to become a normal but ideal bride."

"WHAT?" Takeru and Chiaki uttered in unison upon hearing what Kotoha said, backing away from the kitchen door in shock.

Meanwhile, having given up on the knife, Mako summoned her Shinkenmaru and proceeded to slaughter the pumpkin, its uneven pieces dropping into a boiling pot of poorly-cut vegetables.

"She's so impressive… I really envy people who can cook," Kotoha commented with dreamy eyes while Takeru and Chiaki cringed at what they wee witnessing.

"Is that even edible? I hope Ryuunosuke survives," Takeru commented to Chiaki.

"Nah, I don't think he will," Chiaki replied.

* * *

"Thanks for waiting," Mako called out to Ryuunosuke, who was still maintaining a watch at the boy's house.

"Oh, Mako, you're back."

"How's everything?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Ryuunosuke replied as he sat down on the bench beside Mako, who was opening her bag, when his stomach suddenly growled.

"I knew you'll get hungry, so I made this. Eat it while it's hot," Mako said as she handed an _obento_ to Ryuunosuke.

"You made this for me?"

Ryuunosuke opened the _obento_ to find himself staring at a black mass of something that was once rice, salmon and vegetables

"Well, since you can't go home [ _Ryuunosuke sniffs the food and looked like he was about to retch_ ], I just wanted to create the atmosphere [ _Ryuunosuke finds a piece of charcoal that used to be lettuce_ ] through the flavor of the food. Please put up with it," Mako explained as she pulls out a thermal flask.

"Thank you… _Itadakimasu_ …"

Ryuunosuke took a bite from the _obento_ , and the effect kicked in almost immediately. He coughed the food out which surprised Mako.

"Are you okay? Here, have some tea."

"Thanks."

One sip was all he took, and Ryuunosuke coughed it out as well.

"It's hot! How terrible!" he said with a sigh.

"Terrible?" Mako asked.

"I mean the weather… It's making me cough," Ryuunosuke quickly replied.

Mako sighed and got up from the bench, slowly pacing around while completely unaware that Ryuunosuke was force-feeding himself.

"You know, I didn't really tell you everything earlier," she said at last.

Ryuunosuke looked up at her.

"See, even if I discarded my dream, it doesn't mean I've given up on it. I only discarded it for now, and I will pick it up again once the Gedoushuu had been defeated."

Now Mako turns to Ryuunosuke.

"Won't kabuki wait for you as well?"

Ryuunosuke pondered for a moment, then he finally understood what Mako was trying to tell him. All of a sudden, the 'food' she had made tasted better.

"Take your time to eat it, I went through a lot of trouble just to make it, you know?" Mako said as Ryuunosuke began eating faster.

* * *

It was morning, and as Ryuunosuke woke up, he noticed first that he was under a blanket, and the next thing he noticed was Mako asleep with her head on his shoulders.

 _Could this be…_ Ryuunosuke thought to himself as he adjusted the blanket so that most of it covered Mako's body.

"Nice move, water boy."

It took every ounce of conviction within Ryuunosuke not to scream at the sight of Zenjiro slowly emerging from the shadow of a tree like a ghastly, vengeful ghost, stopping once he reached waist area.

"What are you doing here?" Ryuunosuke hissed at Zenjiro.

"Ruining a potential moment, apparently. All right, on a more serious tone, Shiba- _tono_ told me to check on you both. How's the kid you two were watching over?"

"He seems okay for now, but still…"

"Well, I guess Shiba- _tono_ has nothing much to worry about, then. I'll just- Hey, door's opening!"

Ryuunosuke turned just in time to see the boy, Ryota, running out the house with his bag and baseball bat.

"Mako, wake up! The kid's up to something!" Ryuunosuke said as he shook Mako awake.

"Where is he go- Zenjiro! What happened to you?" Mako nearly screamed at the sight of Zenjiro's upper torso, thinking that the blacksmith had been cut in half.

"There's nothing wrong with me! And the kid you two were watching last night, he ran around the corner!"

"That's the direction to the shrine where we fought the Ayakashi yesterday… Let's go!"

"Yeah. Zenjiro, could you…"

"I'll take your stuff back to the mansion. You two quickly catch up with him!" Zenjiro replied as he grabbed Mako's belongings and sunk back into the shadow of the tree.

As Ryuunosuke suspected, Ryota really was heading for the shrine. At the entrance, Ryuunosuke and Mako watched in confusion as Ryota threw his baseball bat and bag into the trashcan before entering the shrine.

"Where are you?" Ryota called out as he looked around.

"What's he up to?" Mako asked as she and Ryuunosuke approached.

"Just watch, sir! I'll definitely keep my promise!" Ryota said as he began climbing up the stairs of the unattended construction site.

"Hey, Ryota! What are you doing?"

"Come down! It's dangerous!"

"Don't interfere!" Ryota yelled as he climbed to the top of the stairs and began making his way onto the ledge of the wall, far too late for either of the two to stop him.

"But don't you have a game today? Why are you doing this?"

"I… I don't want to play baseball anymore!"

"Why?"

"It's fine! Please leave before he gets here!"

"Who gets here?"

"That'll be me, yeah! And don't interfere!" a familiar voice is heard as Mako and Ryuunosuke, sensing a killing asura, dodged just in time as a spear flew past them and embedded itself in a nearby tree, which frightens Ryota as well as he turned to see Namiayashi sitting at the steps of the shrine.

"Gedoushuu!"

"Just what are you planning?"

Ignoring the two samurais, Namiayashi called out to Ryota.

"Boy, you've made your decision, right? This is a promise between friends! Hurry and do it!"

"Do what?" Ryuunosuke demanded, but then he and Mako sensed danger behind them

Both samurai ducked in time as Namiayashi's spear came flying back to its owner, but when they looked up, they were horrified to see Ryota jumping off the ledge. Watching in stunned silence as Ryota hit the ground, it took both Ryuunosuke and Mako a few seconds to snap out of it and rush to the young boy's aid.

"All right, guys, I'm back and…"

Zenjiro's voice trailed off at the sight of the injured Ryota before scrambling out of the wall's shadow from which he had emerged from, joining Ryuunosuke and Mako.

"What happened? And why is the Ayakashi sitting there doing nothing?" he asked.

"He jumped from the top of that wall!" Mako replied as Ryuunosuke tried to stanch the bleeding on Ryota's leg.

"No good, it's a fracture. My Mojikara can heal some of the damage to pevent any permanent issues, but he still needs to go to the hospital," Zenjiro explained as he inspected Ryota's leg.

"It hurts…" Ryota moaned.

"Of course it hurts! Why did you jump of the wall like that? Are you stupid?"

"Zenjiro! Can't you be a bit more sensitive?" Mako yelled at the blacksmith.

"I just wanted to see my grandfather once more… The monster promised me…"

"Promised you?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"That's right! I promised that twerp that I can bring his grandfather's soul back from the afterlife to see him one more time, but the price was for him to injure himself and pull out from the game he was supposed to play! Such a shame that _**I lied**_ …" Namiayashi admitted as he began dancing with glee.

A look of horror formed on Ryota's face.

"But you said you will bring my grandfather's soul back in exchange for something else that was important! I did what I was told! You promised me!"

"What is going on?" Mako asked.

"My grandfather died last year… He said he would bring my grandfather back if I stop playing baseball!"

"Idiot! Here's no way a dead human can come back to the living! Don't blame me for it, though! You choose to believe me, gave up everything on your own accord. Your grandfather, your baseball and your match for today, they are not coming back at all! Hee hee hee hee hee!"

As Namiayashi laughed at his handiwork, Ryota stared at a talisman he had been holding in his hands as tears streaked down his face.

" _It's a protective charm. It'll help you out when you're in a pinch!" an old man said to Ryota at the Kambei Shrine during a festival as he handed a talisman to him._

" _Really, grandpa? Thanks!"_

" _No worries about it! When the time comes, I'll come see you at the game!"_

"Grandpa…" Ryota whispered as he began sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh! Nice tears, kiddo! That is just what the Sanzu River needs for its water level to rise! Oh, oh my! What a nice smell of sadness and grief! It really turns me on when someone is sobbing their hearts out in despair… Hee hee hee hee hee!"

"Don't give me that bullshit!"

Ryuunosuke, his eyes burning with rage, stood up and faced Namiayashi with Mako joining him after placing her own jacket over Ryota.

"Raising the water levels of the Sanzu River? That was your reason…"

"For making Ryota give up something that was so important to him?" Mako finished Ryuunosuke's sentence for him.

"You won't get away with this! Shodophone!" the two declared in unison as they whipped out their Shodophones.

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

[ **天** ] [ **水** ]

"ShinkenBlue, Ikenami Ryuunosuke!"

"The same, Pink, Shiraishi Mako!"

"Shinkenger! Going forth!"

"Oh, shut up!" Namiayashi complained as the two transformed Shinkengers rushed him, parrying their attacks with his spear.

The two Shinkengers exchanged blows with Namiayashi, neither of the three aware of a bloodthirsty look forming on Zenjiro's face as he quietly reached for Ryota's baseball bat while muttering something inaudible.

"Wait here, and I'm borrowing this," Zenjiro said to Ryota as he ruffled the young boy's head before getting to his feet.

Meanwhile, Namiayashi was starting to overpower Ryuunosuke and Mako, an impressive feat considering that he was using a long weapon in a narrow space against their shorter, more efficient Shinkenmaru.

"Hey, hey, come on now, no reason for the two of you to get so mad, right? Hee hee hee hee hee!" Namiayashi taunted before blasting them with white smoke from his mouth.

As Ryuunosuke and Mako were blown back, the two were shocked to see Zenjiro suddenly dashing past them while twirling Ryota's baseball bat. Namiayashi attempted to pierce him in the face with his spear, but Zenjiro dodged and swung the baseball bat with all his might at the Ayakashi's stomach, revealing at the same time that he had written a few choice characters on the bat:

[ **痛** ] [ **反** ] [ **暴** ] [ **飛** ]

Namiayashi screamed in pain and horror as he was sent flying through the wall of the shrine and into the forest behind it, breaking down a number of trees in the process, while Zenjiro, breathing heavily, spat on the ground beside him while adjusting his glasses.

"What are you two waiting for? Go end that bastard's first life already! I'll take Ryota to the hospital," he said to Ryuunosuke and Mako before turning to do what he had just said.

"Zenjiro's… Zenjiro's really furious," Mako commented.

"Yeah, he looked really scary, but like he said, let's deal with that Ayakashi!"

The two made their way into the forest, following the trail of destruction left by Zenjiro's attack on Namiayashi, eventually finding the Ayakashi in a clearing leaning on his spear for support as he shook himself to clear his head.

"That damn human! How the hell did he hit me so hard? He's not even a Shinkenger!" he moaned just as Ryuunosuke and Mako attacked.

"You'll pay for what you did to Ryota-kun!" Mako declared.

"You will not hurt anyone else again!" Ryuunosuke added.

"Oh, but I'm definitely going to hurt you both!"

With that, Namiayashi blasted them both up close with the energy bolts from his spear, sending the two falling to the ground.

"Now! The finisher!" Namiayashi declared, only to be cut off by a sudden attack as three blurs coloured red, green and yellow dashed around him delivering a couple of slashes, causing the Ayakashi to tumble over.

"Sorry for being late, we just received the message from one of Zenjiro's crows," Takeru said as he, Chiaki and Kotoha, having already transformed into their Shinkenger forms, regrouped with Mako and Ryuunosuke.

"No worries. If Zenjiro can take him out in one hit, then the two of us are more than enough to handle this guy," Mako replied.

"Zenjiro did what?" Takeru asked, but Ryuunosuke and Mako were already charging towards Namiayashi.

"Come out, Nanashi-renju!" Namiayashi called out.

Several Nanashi began emerging from the gaps all over the forest floor, but the Shinkengers wasted no time in dealing with them. Transforming their Shinkenmarus into their respective weapons, Takeru, Chiaki and Kotoha began laying waste to the Nanashi, with Takeru's Rekka Daizantou allowing him to cleave through multiple foes with a single swing, Chiaki taking advantage of his Wood Spear's length to take out his opponents while keeping them at bay at the same time and Kotoha using her Land Slicer as both a shield and a throwing weapon.

Meanwhile, having cut down most of the Nanashi protecting Namiayashi, Ryuunosuke and Mako now stood before the Ayakashi, who was starting to lose his cool.

"You're next, you half-and-half bastard!" Ryuunosuke declared.

"Damn you, samurai! Have a taste of this! Tora Tsunami (Tiger Tidal Wave)!"

Ryuunosuke was struck by the energy protection of a tiger while Mako was hit by a wave of Sanzu River water, both samurai being thrown backwards by the simultaneous attack.

"How does it feel? This is my left-right attack, specifically designed to deal with two opponents at the same time or hit one opponent with two attacks in a single move! There's not a thing you, or anyone else, can do about it!" Namiayashi said confidently.

"Damn it, what should we do?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"It's nothing special, Ryuunosuke. He's just launching two attacks at the same time, so we shall do the same!" Mako replied.

The two samurai quickly got up and transformed their Shinkenmarus into the Water Arrow and Heaven Fan respectively while Namiayashi launches his Tora Tsunami attack again. However, this time around, both of them were able to disrupt the attack with their own attacks, which consists of launching a pair of slashing winds and a dozen arrows made of water that cuts through the Tora Tsunami attack and struck Namiayashi, causing sparks to start flying from several parts of his body while he screamed in pain.

"Impossible!" Namiayashi yelled as he fell to the ground and exploded.

"We did it, Mako!" Ryuunosuke said to which Mako nodded as the others joined them.

"Mako-chan! That was great!" Kotoha said excitedly.

"Talk about a finishing move," Chiaki added.

"Oh, it was nothing…"

"Good job, you two, but now we must be ready. His second life should be activating anytime soon."

No sooner had those words come out from Takeru's mouth did a rumbling catch the attention of the samurais.

"CURSE YOU ALL! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU SHINKENGERS!" the now giant Namiayashi screamed in rage.

"Mako, one more job," Ryuunosuke said.

"Yeah. Leave it to me."

"Ryuu Origami!"

"Kame Origami!"

The two enlarged their Origami before teleporting into their cockpits and charging towards Namiayashi, who used his white smoke breath attack once again, but apart from causing some destruction to the surrounding areas, the attack failed to stop the two Origamis from approaching.

"We told you before…" Ryuunosuke said as he initated the Ryuu Bakufu attack on Namiayashi, the cold blue flames forcing the Ayakashi to his knees

"You won't get away with it!" Mako continued as she transformed her Kame Origami into its Emblem Form.

"Ryuunosuke!"

"Leave it to me!"

The Ryuu Origami grabbed the Kame Origami and hurled it at Namiayashi just as he was getting back up, striking him in the head and causing him to stumble again. The two Origamis then regrouped, joined immediately by the Shishi, Kuma and Saru Origami.

"Let's go! Samurai Gattai!" Takeru said as he initiated the combining sequence.

[ **合** ]

The five Origamis transformed and combined together, forming…

"Shinken-Oh! United under Providence!"

"Don't get cheeky with me, Shinkengers!" Namiayashi cursed out loud as he and Shinken-Oh clashed blades with each other.

Using a feint, Namiayashi was able to force Shinken-Oh into a position where the tiger's head on the right side of his body could bite down on the samurai mecha's arm, eventually disarming his opponent while still maintaining his grip on the latter.

"Damn, what are we going to do with this guy!" Chiaki asked as he and the others struggled to maintain their balance in Shinken-Oh's cockpit.

"Wait, _tono_! I have an idea!" Ryuunosuke announced.

"I'll leave it to you," Takeru replied.

"Here I go! Rising Dragon Leg!"

Acting on Ryuunosuke's command, the Ryuu Origami which forms the left leg of Shinken-Oh forcefully extends itself back into its dragon form while still attached to the mecha, breaking Shinken-Oh from Namiayashi's grip while also propelling the mecha into the air before retracting itself.

"Turtle Heaven Fist!" Mako commanded.

In response, the Kame Origami detached itself from Shinken-Oh and turned into its Emblem Form once again, spinning so fast that it created a circular blade of wind around it as it plummets towards Namiayashi, cutting through his body and breaking his spear into two before re-attaching itself back to Shinken-Oh.

As Namiayashi grovelled in pain, Shinken-Oh retrieved its weapon and readied itself for the finishing move.

"Daishinken! Samurai Giri!" the Shinkengers announced in unison.

Namiayashi, realizing that his death was inevitable, began cowering in fear as Shinken-Oh descended upon him, swinging its weapon in a circular motion before bringing it down on the vile Ayakashi.

[ **斬** ]

"NOOO!" Namiayashi roared as he is cut down, his body exploding into oblivion as it hit the ground while Shinken-Oh posed victoriously.

"This brings this act to a close!"

* * *

Zenjiro silently watched the baseball match from the top of a slope, eventually being joined by Takeru and the others.

"How is Ryota?" Mako asked.

"He'll recover. I had a good talk with him at the hospital. Did my best to cheer him up," Zenjiro replied.

Ryuunosuke and Mako watched the scene with some sadness, which was noticed by the others.

"He's gone now, but what that Ayakashi did to Ryota… It still makes me mad," Mako said.

"Yeah, using that poor child's grief to manipulate him… If only that promise could be a real one," Ryuunosuke added.

Takeru glanced at Zenjiro and nodded. The latter sighed as he took out a brush from his toolkit.

"I'm not good with these sort of kind acts… Feels like telling a lie," he said before writing a single character in front of everyone.

[ **思** ]

* * *

Ryota was seated beside his coach, who looked slightly upset at losing another inning to the opponents, a pair of crutches by his side.

"Don't worry! We'll get them at the next pitch!" Ryota called out.

The coach sighed as a resigned smile formed on his face. Turning towards Ryota, he noticed how the young boy's smile appeared forced and sat down beside him, patting him on the shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"Ryota, once you recovered, work hard to become a regular again, all right? I'm sure your grandpa is cheering for you too," he said to Ryota, who nodded.

As the coach's attention was once again drawn to the field, Ryota, having sensed a chill down his back, turned around and his jaw dropped. A ghostly old man stood behind him, his body bathed in a white glow.

"Grandpa?" Ryota asked in disbelief.

The old man gave Ryota a gentle smile before disappearing. Surprised by what he had just witnessed, Ryota stare at the charm his grandfather had given him as a genuine smile finally formed on his face…

* * *

"Hey, Zenjiro, Takeru, what was that just now?" Chiaki asked.

"He used a special character to create an image based on the boy's memories, although it only last a few seconds," Takeru explained.

"That was eally impressive, Zenjiro-kun," Kotoha commended.

"But you sure looked scarier than the Ayakashi back then. I never thought you would actually be so enraged that you'll attack the Ayakashi like that," Ryuunosuke commented.

"What that two-toned freak did to Ryota, it was a bit personal," Zenjiro replied as he kept his brush.

"Sounds like you have quite a load on your shoulders," Mako said, folding her arms as she stood beside the blacksmith, who merely lets out an awkward smile.

"Don't read too much into me for now, Mako-san. It's just weird," he replied the pre-school teacher.

Ryuunosuke sighed.

"Still, this incident was really an eye-opener. I knew that the Gedoushuu were cruel, but now I see that I had underestimated the severity of their cruelty…"

Ryuunouke turned towards Mako and took her hand in his.

"Mako, giving up important things should be limited to just us. We will surely defeat the Gedoushuu… Woah!"

Ryuunosuke was shoved aside by Mako, causing him to lose his balance and land on the grass.

"That's annoying," she said before walking away.

"Eh? Mako? Why? Where did all that initial kindess go?"

Takeru cringed and began walking away as well, leaving a confused Ryuunosuke trying to wonder what was going on.

"She's not interested in you anymore now that you're fixed!" Chiaki said to Ryuunosuke while barely holding back his laughter.

"Mako-chan is an angel to those in need!" Kotoha cheerfully added.

"I'm just going to summarize it for you: You got rejected," Zenjiro landed the finishing blow.

"No way! Argh… Wah! Wargh! Ow! Aiieee!"

In shock after realizing what was happening, Ryuunosuke accidentally rolled down the slope, with Chiaki, Kotoha and Zenjiro trying to pull him back up only for Chiaki to slip and nearly join Ryuunosuke at the bottom, Kotoha not daring to try her luck with the slippery slope while Zenjiro carefully inched his way down and ended up getting his belt hooked on an exposed root, nearly baring his underwear in the process.

Watching the circus act unfolding before her, Mako could not help but smile in amusement as the four fumbled about trying to get their bearings on the slope…

* * *

_Ryuunoduke's mistaken feelings are blow away by the wind._

_Still, the samurai-tachi's resolve had been renewed._

_Keep those dreams in those eyes until the day the Gedoushuu are defeated._

_Shinkenger Act 4 ends here…_

* * *

It was late at night, but at the old shrine located in the hills behind the Shiba Mansion, something was emitting a strange glow, barely visible given the amount of trees that shielded the location from view.

Nothing escapes Takeru's trained eye, however. Having noticed it while entering the backyard, he was about to go and investigate when Hikoma suddenly appeared.

" _Tono_ , Zenjiro, he's vanished!"

"Yeah. Judging by the glow at the shrine, he's probably there," Takeru replied.

"What glow? Oh, I see it now… What was that?"

The glow suddenly seemed to expand and flash brightly before disappearing, followed by a faint scream of pain that sounded like…

"Zenjiro!"

Takeru dashed towards the shrine, with Hikoma following behind. Upon running up the steps to the shrine, Takeru and Hikoma sees Zenjiro's shattered toolkit on the ground with the brushes and tools scattered all over the grounds.

"What happened here? Zenjiro? Where are you?"

" _Tono_! Over here!"

Hikoma had found a dazed and somewhat bruised Zenjiro lying on the stone steps of the shrine holding the remnants of a broken brush in his bloodied fingers, although he appears mostly fine.

"Zenjiro! Are you all right? Hang in there!"

"What happened to you?" Takeru demanded as he knelt down beside the blacksmith, who was being helped to a sitting position by Hikoma.

"It's fixed… Shit, the records were not kidding about the smallest auxiliary Origami being the most powerful…" Zenjiro commented as he slowly regained got up to a sitting position while handing an orange Hiden Disk to Takeru.

"That's… That's the Kabuto Origami! You fixed it?"

"Yeah… But the moment I revived it, all the excess Mojikara energy that had been building up in it exploded and I got blown back. God, my jaw hurts."

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah, just need to do it slowly…"

Takeru and Hikoma helped Zenjiro up before the three headed back to the Shiba Mansion with the blacksmith having a slight limp, though along the way, the Fire Samurai found himself staring unconsciously at the orange Disk in his hands…


	5. Act 5: The Kabuto Origami

"Hey! Hey! Is it true that we're getting a day off?"

"Our lord said that sometimes, we need a change of pace…"

Ryuunosuke had not even finished his sentence when Chiaki literally bounced up from the floor with excitement.

"Alright! I need to go clothes shopping! I got nothing else to wear for spring at the moment…"

"I think I'll go watch a movie. Wonder if there are still tickets…" Mako mused as she walked over to Kotoha with a movie magazine in hand.

"If only I've woken up sooner-"

"Wait, calm down!" Ryuunosuke suddenly said out loud, causing everyone to turn towards him.

"I have a good idea. Why not we… All go out together? That way, we can strengthen our friendship!"

Ryuunosuke pulled Chiaki, who had just changed his clothes, towards the girls as he spoke.

"I mean, there are still many things we do not know about each other, right?" he continued.

"Huh?"

"But isn't being together like this every day more than enough?" Mako asked.

"Yes, that's right. I know enough, especially about you…" Chiaki commented as he swung his arm to put it on Ryuunosuke's shoulders, only for the latter to suddenly squat down in front of Kotoha, causing him to miss.

"Kotoha, is there any place that you want to go?"

It only took two seconds for the Earth Samurai to make up her mind.

"I want to go to the amusement park with you all!"

"That's it! We'll do that!"

Now it was Kotoha's turn to start bouncing with excitement.

"This is great! It will be my first time visiting an amusement park in Tokyo!" she exclaimed.

"Your first time?"

"Hey, wait a minute…"

"Don't just decide that yourself!"

As the other two protested Ryuunosuke's idea, Takeru came walking in with Zenjiro. Upon seeing them, Ryuunosuke immediately went over and got down to one knee.

" _Tono_ , about today's day off, we've decided to go to the amusement park."

"Oh? Okay then," Takeru replied nonchalantly before walking past them.

"Ah, _tono_ , please come with us."

Takeru turned around, as though he wanted to say something, but then he appeared to change his mind, or rather, what he wanted to say.

"Another time, perhaps. I'm busy with something now, so you guys go ahead without me."

With that, Takeru left the room, with the others sighing.

"There's only one person we don't understand at all," Mako commented.

"I just can't get a grasp on that guy," Chiaki added.

"Zenjiro, what about you? Do you want to joi- Ah… AH! What happened to your hands?!"

"Oh, this? I had a fall at the shrine behind the mansion. It's not so bad, though it also means I can't join you guys either," Zenjiro explained as he held up both his arms, which were bandaged from below the elbow to the fingers.

Unknown to the others as they fussed over Zenjiro's injuries, alone in his personal room, Takeru silently opened a box which contained the Kabuto Origami's disk, the one Zenjiro was able to repair at the cost of getting his arms all bruised up…

* * *

"I wish the lord had come along with us," Ryuunosuke said as he, Mako, Chiaki and Kotoha walked through he amusement park.

"Well, he said he was busy, right? Although he never told us what he was busy with…" Mako replied.

"And Zenjiro-kun's arms are in a bad shape, otherwise he could have joined us as well," Kotoha chimed in.

"I still don't get it with Takeru, though. That guy never tells us what kind of stuff he's busy with… He's so withdrawn from all of us," Chiaki said with a tone of annoyance.

"That is not true," Ryuunosuke said defensively as he turned to face Chiaki.

"It is! I mean, even after Takeru and I worked out our problems with each other and started talking more often, none of the conversations I had with him were normal at all! To be honest, apart from an occasional smirk, have we ever seen him smile, let alone laugh, even once?"

"Those who are samurai do not just frivolously laugh."

"Well, then sorry if my laughter is frivolous!" Chiaki snapped back at Ryuunosuke as he slapped the Water Samurai's accusing finger away while Mako came over to break up their little squabble as she always does.

"He might be training."

"Eh?"

All three turned around to stare at Kotoha with confusion upon hearing what she just said…

* * *

Using his better arm, Zenjiro carried a box of water bottles up the steps of the shrine, where Takeru was trying to harness the power of the Kabuto Origami, spinning the disk that had been attached to his Shinkenmaru which caused orange energy to begin swirling around the blade.

No sooner had Zenjiro put the box down did he hear Takeru let out a short but sharp cry of pain, causing him to turn around just in time to see Takeru being sent flying backward while the Shinkenmaru clattered against the ground.

"Oi, Shiba- _tono_! Ae you alright?" Zenjiro asked as he came to Takeru's side.

"Not enough… I need…" Takeru uttered as he struggled to pick himself up, even with Zenjiro's help.

"What you need right now is rest."

Hikoma, who had came along with Zenjiro, picked up the Shinkenmaru.

"To use the Kabuto Hiden Disk effectively, what you need is double the amount of Mojikara you currently have. Right now, my lord, you are still a distance from achieving it," he explained.

Now back on his feet, Takeru walked over to Hikoma and took the Shinkenmaru back.

"If I stopped because you said something like that, then I'll never be able to use it. Zenjiro here injured himself in order to fix it. If I can't use it, then all his efforts would go to waste," he replied while Zenjiro helped himself to one of the water bottles.

"There's no guarantee that our battles with the Gedoushuu will continue as smoothly as it had been. I need to obtain this new power, otherwise…"

"That's why you remained by yourself to train? Your determination is admirable… But the truth is, you really wanted to go to the amusement park, did you?"

For once, Takeru looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he reacted to what Hikoma just said.

"That's nonsense…"

"No, no, no… When you were younger, you always pestered me with 'Take me to the amusement park!' Ah, those memories…"

"Really? Did I?"

Zenjiro snorted trying not to laugh at Takeru's poor attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh, this I got to hear. Ji-san, spill his secrets!" he said.

"Why you…" Takeru started protesting, but Hikoma continued his story.

"When _tono-sama_ wanted to go to the amusement park, he would not stop asking until I took him there. But once we got there, he would get so scared of the rides. He would start going, 'I don't want to ride that! I don't want to ride that!' and start pulling me away. In the end, each time we went, he would only try out one or two of the new, less scary rides. But that is not the best of all. One time, I took him into a haunted house, but he ended up peeing his pants!"

Takeru was mortified as one of his deepest, darkest secrets was revealed, while Zenjiro spat the water he was drinking out before tumbling over laughing wildly.

"BAH HA HA HA! Shiba- _tono_ , who fights hellspawns on a regular basis, wet his pants in a fake-ass haunted house attraction? HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Oh, that was nostalgic," Hikoma commented as he started laughing himself.

"Enough with the stories! You're bothering me!" Takeru complained, now sounding more like a normal young adult than a lord before he caught himself, coughed and reverted back to his 'lord' persona.

"All right, back to training."

Zenjiro was about to say something when the sounds of a bell rining could be heard, which confused Hikoma and Takeru until Zenjiro opened a secret panel in one of the shrine's pillar to reveal a Sukima Sensor inside.

"We have two?" the two asked.

"I made another one connected to the original one back in the mansion, just in case the samurai come up here to train. Number is… Oh, no…"

"Where is it?" Takeru demanded.

"The amusement park where the others went to… Tokyo Dome City Attractions," the blacksmith replied nervously.

* * *

Ryuunosuke and the others were enjoying ice cream when they heard screaming from the entrance of the amusement park, followed by what sounded like several gunshots. Throwing their food aside, the four raced to the entrance to find out what was going on…

* * *

A humanoid creature with strange red hair growing out from certain parts of his body along with a cape that appears to be part of his body firing an equally strange-looking gun at several fleeing civilians as well as surrounding objects and buildings.

"Everything here is useless! _Muda, muda, muda_! All these stuff are simply useless!" the creature said out loud, but then his attention was caught by some people huddling near the rubble of a building he had damaged.

Taking aim, he opened fire on the people, but then his bullets were deflected by a a pair of blurs, coloured blue and green.

"What is this? Shinkengers?" the creature asked as Ryuunosuke and Chiaki pointed their blades at him while Mako and Kotoha pointed out an escape route for the people trapped by the rubble.

"Causing all these damage and injuries… Unforgivable, Gedoushuu!" Ryuunosuke said with anger.

"Hmph! Say what you wish to say, and do what you want with me. It's all useless, either way."

"How so?" Chiaki retorted before performing a jumping swing at the Ayakashi.

To the surprise of the samurai, Chiaki's weapon seemed to slip along the Ayakashi's body which appeared to distort the space where the blow should had landed. Caught off-guard, Chiaki gets struck twice by the bayonet attached to the Ayakashi's firearm which caused him to tumble back to the others.

"Chiaki!" the others exclaimed

"I'm fine, but what's with his body?"

Ryuunosuke, Mako and Kotoha rushed forward and attacked the Ayakashi at the same time, but just like what happened with Chiaki earlier, the space around the Ayakashi's body started distorting and their weapons ended up slipping off him, right before the Ayakashi leap backwards and unloaded a few bursts from his firearm at the three, knocking them back as well.

"It's useless! Useless!" the Ayakashi taunted.

"Our weapons aren't working on his body!" Chiaki exclaimed as he got to his feet.

"Not possible! There must be some trick! Let's try again!" Ryuunosuke replied.

"Try all you want! I'll let you know that everything you do to me is ultimately useless," the Ayakashi said as Ryuunosuke and Chiaki performed a flanking attack on him while Mako and Kotoha attacked from the front, only for their multiple slashes to prove, well, useless.

"It really isn't working!" Kotoha cried out.

"It's just slipping past him!" Mako added.

"As I said, your attacks are useless, just like your lives! Disappear already!" the Ayakashi taunted as it somersaulted away from the samurai before opening fire on them.

The first volley knocked the samurais' weapons out of their hands. The second volley tore through them, and the third volley was what finally finished the job, the Shinkengers collapsing to the ground in defeat. Letting out a mocking laugh, the Ayakashi blew the smoke away from his weapon, but then noticed to his surprise that his opponents were still moving.

"Still alive? But it is just a useless effort. You're finished!" he roared as he aimed his weapon at them once more, with the Shinkengers, at a loss of what to do, cowering away.

The Ayakashi was about to pull the trigger when he sensed a hostile presence behind him, turning around just in time to see Takeru about to land a blow on him from the air.

" _Tono_!"

" _Tono-sama_!"

One would expect the leader of the Shinkengers to have a different outcome from the others, but instead, Takeru's attack slipped through the Ayakashi as well, which surprised him but did not deter him from making a few more attempts at attacking.

"Useless! All useless! This is my special ability! All physical attacks are useless against my body!"

"What?" Takeru uttered out loud.

"Are you kidding me? Even Takeru's having trouble with that guy!" Chiaki groaned.

"His body is automatically turning away all attacks made on him," Mako added.

Refusing to give up, Takeru attempted a few more strikes, but suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of the Ayakashi's weapon, who spoke only a single word to Takeru:

"Die."

At the last second, Takeru backflipped to safety right before the bullets struck him, in the process kicking the weapon hard enough that the Ayakashi nearly dropped it, fumbling about as he tried to get a grip on it. Using the distraction caused, Takeru rallied the others to his side.

"Use Mojikara! Everyone attack simultaneously!" Takeru ordered as he loaded the Shishi Disk to his Shinkenmaru.

The others followed suit, loading their personal Disks into their weapons. As te Ayakashi finally secured his firearm, he turned around only to find the Shinkengers charging up their weapons with their individual elemental energy.

"Shinkenmaru! Gojyuu no Daichi!"

The Ayakashi grunted in pain as he was struck by five energy slashs right in the gut, which also caused him to backpedal several steps. Just when he appeared to have regained balance, small bursts of energy began exploding around his stomach like miniature fireworks, causing him to holler in pain again, but he quickly regained his composure.

"This level of attack is useless as well!" the Ayakasha boasted, although the way his voice sounded made it clear that the combined attack he just took had hurt him quite badly.

"Did we do it?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"USELESS! ALL OF IT IS USELESS! Now I will show you how useless your existence are!" the Ayakashi roared.

In response, Takeru quickly transformed his Shinkenmaru into the Rekka Daizantou before using it as as a shield for himself and the others as the enraged Ayakashi began non-stop firing his firearm at them. As the barrage of bullets continued, Takeru took out the Kabuto Disk and was about to insert it into his weapon when he paused.

_What if it fails?_ Takeru thought to himself, unaware that his unease had been noticed by Mako.

Just then, the Ayakashi stopped firing and began doubling over in pain. The others quickly noticed that parts of his body were losing colour, turning gray and seemingly cracking apart.

"I'm out of Sanzu water? What a truly useless characteristic for us Ayakashi… Shinkengers! Mark my words! Next time, I will be taking your useless lives!" the Ayakashi challenged before walking off and disappearing into a nearby crevice.

The Shinkengers finally let out a sigh of relief from such a difficult battle, although Takeru continued to stare at the Kabuto Disk in his hands…

* * *

Having returned to the Shiba Mansion, Hikoma, Zenjiro and the kuroko were shocked by the number of injuries suffered by the four retainers, even though they were only bruises and abrasions that will heal overnight with assistance from Zenjiro's Mojikara, although he insisted on disinfecting them first. Once that was done, the blacksmith quickly browsed through the Shiba Clan records and was soon able to identify the Ayakashi the samurai had faced: Yanasudare ( _Willow Curtain_ ).

"Completely immune to physical attacks. His weapon, the Ryūshi Rendanjū, used to be like a tanegashima, so he was normally employed for assassinations. He took out quite a number of warriors and high-ranking officials that assisted the Shiba Clan in the past, but after he modified his weapon to a gatling gun following an emergence during the Boshin War in the nineteenth century, he became a frontline warrior," Zenjiro explained as he showed them the image and the information on the book.

"Damn it! What should we do about that Ayakashi?!" Chiaki yelled in anger as he slammed his hands against the railings.

"Blades don't work on him, and neither does Mojikara," Mako added as she joined Chiaki.

"Back then, had the Ayakashi not run out of water…" Ryuunosuke whispered.

"We would have… No, I don't want to think about it!"

Noticing how frightened she was, Zenjiro sat down beside Kotoha and placed one hand on her shoulders as she hide her face in her arms to help her calm down.

"Don't think or say such things, _baka._ It'll only hut your own morale," he said to the young girl.

Hikoma stood up from his position and walked over towards them.

"Zenjiro is right! You must not say such things! Fear is the greatest enemy at times like this! If you give in to fear and lose your confidence, then you will lose even to an enemy that you can normally defeat! Sometimes in battle, even if you lack power, your feelings will determine whether you win or lose."

"Even if you say that, we just don't have…" Chiaki snapped back but Zenjiro turned and silently indicated for him to calm down.

"Sorry, I just… We don't have the power… Without power, how can we win?" Chiaki continued, his tone softer this time.

"Wrong. We do have the power," Takeru suddenly said as he got off his seat, prompting everyone to turn towards him.

"You're mistaken if you all think Mojikara had no effect on that Ayakashi. Back then, our combined attack caused him quite some damage, though he forced himself not to show his pain."

"But we were not able to defeat him!"

_Mako-san… She's just as rattled as Kotoha, Chiaki and Ryuunosuke… This isn't good_ , Zenjiro thought to himself just as Takeru continued.

"We were merely lacking in Mojikara. We'll use this to gain more power."

Takeru took out the Kabuto Disk and showed it to everyone.

" _Tono_ , what is that Disk?"

"The Shiba Clan had several Hiden Disks in their arsenal, passed down from each generation to the next. However, in several past battles with the Gedoushuu, most of the Hiden Disks had either gone missing, were destroyed or left damaged and unusable," Hikoma explained.

"This Disk contains the Kabuto Origami. It is among the strongest of the Hiden Disks, and quite unfortunately, it is also the only one left in our arsenal, and had been damaged for quite some time until Zenjiro fixed the Disk and revived the Origami. With this Disk, we'll definitely beat that Ayakashi!"

"Is it true?"

"There's hope after all…"

"You guys don't get your hopes too high, though," Zenjiro suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"To master the use of the Hiden Disk, one's Mojikara level must be twice the current level all of you possess, especially this one."

"Twice?" Chiaki exclaimed in shock.

"No way…" Mako muttered as she sank to her knees beside an equally distraught Ryuunosuke.

"Wait, that means… Zenjiro-kun, you didn't fall down the stairs, you got injured because of that Disk, didn't you?" Kotoha asked as she turned to Zenjiro, who gave her an apologetic look before nodding slowly.

"But how do we even-"

"I'll do it."

All eyes were on Takeru now.

"You guys don't need to worry too much. Tend to your wounds, they're more important."

"Hey, did you just hear what Zenjiro said? Twice the Mojikara, twice! Can you do it?" Chiaki called out as Takeru turned to leave.

"I'm saying that I can! The Hiden Disks had always been used by the heads of the Shiba Clan. Of course I can use it."

"Oh, well, you could have told us that earlier- Wait, actually, you should have used it earlier!"

"The Ayakashi got away before I could use it. Next time, he won't be so lucky," was all Takeru said before he left the room.

"Hey, wait!"

Ryuunosuke started singing praises about Takeru and Kotoha's fear was no longer present. Mako, however, remained worried as Chiaki approached her.

"What do you think?"

"Back then, I noticed Takeru took that Disk out, but he appeared to hesitate…"

As Chiaki scratched his head in frustration, Zenjiro silently leaned against a post, deep in thought.

_Both Mako-san and Chiaki had already noticed something off about Shiba-tono's words. Still, that lie he made can only reassure Ryuu-san and Kotoha… I can't break my clan's oath, but I don't want to lose any more people… Damn it, what should I do?_

Meanwhile, in a corridor and out of sight from the others, Takeru began staring at the Kabuto Disk again.

_I said that I can do it, but… Can I?_ Takeru wondered…

* * *

On the Rokumon Junk in the Sanzu River, Shitari was pouring Sanzu River over Yanasudare's body as the Ayakashi regenerated the wound in his stomach.

"How's that? No longer out of water, right?" Shitari asked.

"Hmph… How useless! This is just useless! Our bodies' dependency on the Sanzu River's water prevents us from going all out to wreck havoc… A useless trait indeed!"

"Hey, don't say things like that… We need the Sanzu River's water to survive…" Shitari tried to reassure Yanasudare as Dayu walked by.

"Ignore him, Shitari. Everything is useless to him. I dare say his own life is useless as well," Dayu commented as she sat down and took out her shamisen.

"But not as useless as yours," Yanasudare replied with an insult of his own.

Dayu's first note wasn't just off tone: One could feel the rising anger within Dayu from it as she turned around and glared at Yanasudare with such intensity that an entire army would have fled on the spot.

"What did you just say?"

Intimidated by Dayu's tranquil fury, Yanasudare quickly turned around to avoid looking at her, but as Dayu got up to escalate the confrontation, Chimatsuri Doukoku came walking in.

"Cut it out already, Dayu! You really don't get along with any of the Ayakashi, eh?"

Dayu merely lets out a disgruntled sound before walking away while Doukoku approached Yanasudare.

"Yanasudare, that useless mouth of yours is a big waste compared to your useful ability. Once you're all healed up, go eliminate the Shinkengers. I'm counting on you… Or else…" he growled at the Ayakashi, who merely nodded with fear of what Doukoku would do to him if he failed again…

* * *

Hikoma was surprised when Zenjiro came to find him late at night, asking for the Black Shodophone. Apparently, he was worried about a lot of things, ranging from Takeru's lie about using the Kabuto Disk to the others allowing fear to take hold of their hearts again, and he intends on using it as a last resort should things go wrong when Yanasudare shows up again, which, however, would also mean breaking his clan's oath.

At the moment, though, he and Zenjiro had other things to worry about, as within two seconds of Hikoma handing the Black Shodophone to Zenjiro, both of them noticed a particularly large flash of light emitting from the shrine where Zenjiro had repaired the Kabuto Origami, prompting them both to rush over just in time to see Takeru trying to harness the power of the Kabuto Origami with its Disk attached to the Rekka Daizantou.

"What is he doing? He's already all bruised and battered!" Zenjiro asked, with Hikoma staring at Takeru with a worried look as the head of the Shiba Clan is thrown a good distance away from the recoil of another failed attempt.

"No… Not enough… This level of Mojikara is not enough to master using it," Takeru muttered as he struggled back up to his feet and picked up the Rekka Daizantou again before trying to channel the energy from the Kabuto Hiden Disk once more.

" _Tono_!" Hikoma and Zenjiro cried out in horror as Takeru, once again failing to harness the power of the Hiden Disk, is now thrown against the stairs leading higher into the hills before rolling to the bottom.

As Zenjiro began trying to go to Takeru's aid, Hikoma hesitated for a moment before grabbing Zenjiro's arm and pulling him back.

"Ji! What are you doing?"

"We cannot interfere!"

"He just coughed up blood, for God's sake! Let me heal him!"

"No! If you do so, then he would fail. Increasing Mojikara is a difficult process, and one can only do it by themselves. But if this gives us a fighting chance against that Ayakashi, then that Disk is our only hope!"

Zenjiro gritted his teeth as he is forced to watch Takeru get thrown across the area once again.

"If he keeps this up, how is he going to fight?" he asked.

"Our lord is a lot stronger than you think."

"But- Takeru!"

The sound of Takeru being thrown against a pillar is heard, and this time even Hikoma momentarily loses his composure and took a step forward, but then he realized what he was doing and managed to get a grip on Zenjiro, who had nearly slipped out.

"He can't keep going like this!" Zenjiro protested.

"He has to!"

"He'll die!"

"Zenjiro! Listen to me! If our lord fails to master the Disk, Ryuunosuke and the others, all of whom are not as experienced as you or Takeru, would eventually let their fear take over and put them at a disadvantage! Was that not the reason why you decided to take the Black Shodophone? You, who had to fight off Gedoushuu with just a brush and your bare fists in the past, knew that there was a high chance that they would give in to fear," Hikoma said.

"When Takeru is not around, Mako-san was the one who kept the peace between the others, but now, even she is scared…"

"So you are aware, then? The reason why he cannot tell them the truth is because his strength is the one holding them together, and that strength of his has never let them down, that they can trust their lives in his hands and fight. If they were to see him in such a condition, what do you think would happen? The lord is well aware of that fact. This is why he is training alone. He does not rely on others, that is the eighteenth head of the Shiba Clan!"

Zenjiro reluctantly nodded as he turned away while Hikoma steeled himself and continued watching Takeru's efforts, even as the young lord is once more thrown across the area, his wounds ever increasing…

* * *

"Useless! Useless! Muda muda muda muda muda!"

Yanasudare, fully recovered, was on a shooting rampage, blasting at everything in sight and racking up a rather nasty body count in the process.

"This whole word is useless! The terrified screams from you humans are useless as- Yargh!"

Caught in a particularly strong wind with a sweet scent to it created by Mako, Yanasudare is thrown from the ledge he was standing on all the way to the ground. Ryuunosuke, Chiaki and Kotoha joined her as they faced down Yanasudare.

"Shinkengers!" Yanasudare exclaimed.

"Hey, useless!" Chiaki greeted.

"That's far enough, useless," Ryuunosuke threatened.

Yanasudare was caught off-guard by what the male Shinkengers just said, and the distraction gave the samurais time to initiate their transformation.

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

[ **天** ] [ **木** ] [ **水** ] [ **土** ]

"Hey, you stole my line! And as promised, I am taking your useless lives!" the Ayakashi yelled once the realization hit him, but by then, the Shinkengers had already transformed and were coming after him.

Meanwhile, hidden beind a flight of stairs, Zenjiro took out the Black Shodophone and switched it to brush mode as he watched the fight unfold, but the hand holding it was trembling.

_Can I really bring myself to break the oath? Damn it… I'm hesitating… I can't do it properly!_ Zenjiro mentally cursed as he watched Yanasudare begin to overpower the Shinkengers…

* * *

" _Tono! Tono!_ "

Hikoma rushed to the side of an unconscious Takeru, who was still at the shrine but laid out on the ground. Impaled into the ground by a small stick was a note from Zenjiro, telling Hikoma that he had healed most of Takeru's injuries after he lost consciousness and was on his way to assist the others, but still…

_With his wounds like this, even if they are mostly healed… Perhaps he should not fight? But as a samurai… As our lord…_ Hikoma thought as he examined Takeru's injuries but then he noticed something.

The Kabuto Disk was still attached to the Rekka Daizantou, and even though he was unconscious, Takeru still had a vice-like grip on the weapon's hilt. And that was enough to answer Hikoma's inner questionings.

" _Tono_! Please wake up! It's an Ayakashi, _tono_!" Hikoma roared at the top of his voice.

Takeru's eyes opened, and he began to stir.

"Okay…"

It took Takeru a full twenty seconds to finally get to his feet, and even so, he stumbled and nearly fell forward, using the Rekka Daizantou as a makeshift crutch to stop himself from doing so.

"Time… To clash again…" Takeru whispered.

" _Tono_ , are you…"

Finally able to stand up properly on his own, Takeru turned towards Hikoma and flashed a reassuring smile.

"I am fine, Ji… And I am going to fight."

* * *

Chiaki collapsed to the ground, dropping his Wood Spear in the process as Mako and Kotoha struggled to get back up. Seeing his comrades in danger, Ryuunosuke leapt into the air and got ready to fire his Water Arrow for an aerial attack, but Yanasudare saw through it and blasted him in midair, causing him to fall to the ground.

As Ryuunosuke got to his knees, he found Yanasudare aiming his firearm point blank at his face.

"This time for sure, you useless punks are finished!" Yanasudare declared.

"Ryuu-san!"

"Ryuunosuke!"

Ryuunosuke said nothing, but simply bent his head forward slightly, as though he had accepted his coming demise. From his hiding place, Zenjiro could no longer watch it go on. As he emerged and braced himself to write his personal character, he once again hesitated and his hand began trembling again.

_No! Not at a time like this!_ Zenjiro thought, but then a red blur suddenly swooped past him and knocked the firearm out of Yanasudare's hands.

Zenjiro turned to see the kuroko carrying the Shiba Clan's banners and realized Takeru had arrived, sighing with relief before disappearing into the shadows as the head of the Shiba Clan stepped forward.

"You are the one who is going to be finished today, Gedoushuu!" Takeru said to Yanasudare, who had just retrived his firearm.

Instead of firing at Takeru, the Ayakashi decided to take time to taunt him.

"Hey, look at this! I thought you ran away with your useless tail between your legs, but here you are, looking to get killed."

"IPPITSU SOUJOU!"

[ **火** ]

Yanasudare and the other Shinkengers watched as Takeru transformed into…

"ShinkenRed, Shiba Takeru! Going forth!"

Backflipping over Yanasudare, Takuer quickly made distance between him and the Ayakashi before transforming his Shinkenmaru into the Rekka Daizantou. He then readied the weapon by resting it on one shoulder while staring straight at Yanasudare without flinching.

"Useless struggles and a useless challenge, but I'll accept it as a fellow warrior. I'll be your opponent," Yanasudare said.

As Ryuunosuke and the others watched, a Mexican stand-off had occurred between Takeru and Yanasudare, neither one willing to make the first move although Yanasudare begins proviking Takeru.

"Hey, come on! Are you not going to attack?"

"Oi, Takeru, you need to hurry up!" Chiaki called out.

"Tono-sama! The Ayakashi is planning to attack soon!" Kotoha added.

Instead, Takeru wordlessly opened a compartment on his belt where extra disks, shrunken using Mojikara, were stored, and was about to take out the Kabuto Disk that was inside when he froze.

"Takeru… Something's definitely wrong," Mako said when she noticed his actions.

"Hey! I thought you said you were going to finish me off?" Yanasudare taunted again, though he sounded annoyed this time.

" _Tono_!"

" _Tono-sama_!"

"Takeru!"

"Well, if you ain't going to attack with that useless weapon of yours, then I'll strike first!"

No sooner had Yanasudare uttered those words and started charging towards Takeru did Takeru finally moved, and moved quickly he did. In three seconds, he had the Kabuto Disk attached to the weapon, spun it into a ready position and was already charging up energy from the Kabuto Disk. The flames emitting from the Rekka Daizantou was not just hot, it also also generating another form of energy from the Kabuto Disk. Yanasudare had the misfortune of being too close to the flames and ended up partially burnt.

As for Takeru, he was struggling to keep his balance and maintain his grip on the Rekka Daizantou. He could be heard growling in pain by the other Shinkengers, but then his weapon suddenly began changing its form, transforming from an abnormally large sword to a sportable cannon.

"Rekka Daizantou! Oozutsu Mode!"

The Shinkengers watched in awe at the new form of Takeru's weapon until he held his Shishi Disk up.

"Guys, I need to borrow your strength! Lent me your personal Disks!"

"Damn right!"

"Be careful with it!"

"Here you go!"

Each Shinkenger loaded their personal Disk onto a slot on top of the Rekka Daizanto before stepping back and getting down on one knee while Takeru aimed the weapon at Yanasudare, who had managed to put out the fires threatening to burn him only to see the Shinkengers already about to shoot him.

"What was that?" he asked as Takeru took aim while the other Shinkengers got down on one knee behind him.

"Kabuto Gourindan! _Seibai_!"

Takeru fired an orange energy ball from his weapon, which slowly formed into the appearance of a kabutomushi as it surged forward at high speeds.

"Whatever it is, it's useless as well!" Yanasudare said as he fired his weapon at the approaching attack, which melted the bullets that passed by it before striking Yanasudare in the stomach.

"Oh, just the stomach? I'll show you what I'm made- Wait, what is this? No!"

The Kabuto Gorindan literally exploded out the back of Yanasudare, leaving a gaping hole in through his body while the excess energy literally ripped through the rest of his body.

"NO! It's not possible!" Yanasudare screamed right before he exploded into smithereens.

"Alright! Fist life beaten!"

"That was incredible, _tono-sama_!"

Takeru did not join in on the cheers of his comrades, instead becoming deep in thought, but then the Ayakashi's second life triggered.

"HOW DARE YOU BASTARDS!" the now-giant Yanasudare roared.

Quickly, the Shinkengers took out their individual Origami and prepared for battle with the giant Ayakashi.

"Origami Daihenge!

[ **大** ]

Almost immediately when the Origamis had enlarged, the Shinkengers initiated their combination.

"Samurai Gattai! Shinken-Oh, United under Providence!"

Shinken-Oh drew its sword and attempted to cut down Yanasudare, but…

"Useless! Utterly useless! Even though I am in my second life, I am still immune to your katana!" Yanasudare taunted as Shinken-Oh's blade slipped through his body before blasting away at the mecha, causing it to stumble backwards before the accumulated damage to one of its legs caused it to drop to one knee.

"This is bad!" Chiaki yelled as Yanasudare laughed at the plight of his opponents.

"It's hopeless! Without Mojikara, we can't…"

Ryuunosuke was cut off by another barrage of gunfire from Yanasudare, who slowly advanced towards the fallen Shinken-Oh…

* * *

"Shit! How the hell are they supposed to fight him like this?" Zenjiro cursed as he watched the battle unfold, but then he felt something struggling to get out of one of his jacket's pocket.

"Fukurou Origami? What's wrong?" he asked as his Origami flew out of his pocket, chirping and hooting wildly while flying around Zenjiro and seemingly using its beak to point at Yanasudare.

"Wait, you want to fight?"

The Fukurou Origami nodded.

"In that case…" Zenjiro muttered as he took out a brush and wrote the single character on top of the Fukurou Origami as it transformed back into its Emblem Form:

[ **大** ]

"Origami Daihenge!"

* * *

"Look! Isn't that…"

Kotoha pointed to the approaching Fukurou Origami, which was now enlarged and headed straight for Yanasudare.

"Fukurou Origami? But isn't that Zenjiro's Origami?" Mako asked.

"Yeah, but look! Zenjiro's still on the ground, so who's piloting it?" Ryuunosuke questioned as he pointed out the window at Zenjiro, who was standing at an overhead bridge watching things unfold.

"I think it's moving on its own…" Chiaki commented.

Meanwhile, the Fukurou Origami swung both wings at Yanasudare, sending explosive metal feathers towards the Ayakashi. While not hurting the Ayakashi much, the attack was able to pin him down for a moment and send him into a daze. As Yanasudare tried to clear his head, the Fukurou Origami grabbed him by the shoulders and lifed him into the air, screeching once before dropping him back to the ground, causing a huge crater to form where he landed. Using this distraction, Shinken-Oh managed to finish auto-repairing the damage on its leg and got back up to its feet.

It was at this point Takeru's Shodophone began ringing.

"Zenjiro?" he asked in surprise upon seeing the name of the caller before answering.

" _Takeru! That Ayakashi's only immune to direct physical attacks! Grappling moves and Mojikara-based attacks work well on him, and the Kabuto Origami's combat speciality is in both these fields, so…_ "

"The Kabuto Origami is this guy's natural enemy? Thanks, now we know we can beat him."

Hanging up, Takeru held out the Kabuto Disk.

"Now, we'll witness the true power of the Kabuto Disk!" he said to the others before withdrawing his Shinkenmaru from its slot and exiting the cockpit, emerging on the right shoulder of Shinken-Oh while a recovered Yanasudare stared at him in surprise.

"What are you doing, standing there like that?" he demanded.

Instead of replying, Takeru inserted the Kabuto Disk into his Shinkenmaru, spun the disk and raised it into the air.

"Kabuto Origami!"

To everyone's surprise, an orange Origami resembling a Japanese rhinocerous beetle emerged from the disk, growing bigger in size until it was about the same as the Shinkenger's enlarged Origami as it landed in front of Shinken-Oh, rotating its head in a corkscrew motion.

"A kabutomushi!" Kotoha exclaimed

"I knew Zenjiro could store things inside the disks but a whole Origami?" Ryuunosuke commented.

"Actually, I believe it was already in that disk..." Mako explained.

"Doesn't matter, it's still amazing!" Chiaki said excitedly.

Leaping from the shoulder of Shinken-Oh, Takeru teleported into the cockpit of the Kabuto Origami and took control. The Kabuto Origami's head began rotating faster, and so did the disk that formed part of its body as it began marching towards Yanasudare.

"Kabuto Origami, going forth!"

Yanasudare started shooting at the Kabuto Origami, which no-selled the attack as it opened its horns and grabbed the Aykashi's leg, flipping him so hard that he did not just fall over, but was actually thrown a good distance away. Meanwhile, the Kabuto Origami returned to Shinken-Oh's side.

"That small bug is strong, but it is still useless! Oonanashi-renju, come out!" Yanasudare ordered.

Several giant Nanashi emerged, but their front row archers were immediately decimated by the Kabuto Origami firing a beam of energy from its horns, causing the others to start freaking out.

"This is where the real battle begins! Samurai Busou!" Takeru announced as he spun the Kabuto Disk.

To everyone's surprise, the Fukurou Origami, which had been flying about, suddenly swooped down and picked up the Kabuto Origami. It then flipped the insect-based Origami into the air so that the latter landed on top of its back, effectively combining both Origamis before soaring towards Shinken-Oh and began splitting into parts.

The Fukurou Origami's head folded into its body as it gripped onto the back of Shinken-Oh using its talons, with most of the Kabuto Origami's body still attached to it like a heavy backpack. The wings attached themselves to the arms of Shinken-Oh like a pair of arm blades while the Kabuto's legs formed the pauldrons. Finally, the Kabuto Origami's head replaced Shinken-Oh's helmet, completing the combination.

"Kabuto Shinken-Oh, united under Providence!" Takeru declared.

"Wait, I've moved forward? And there's an empty panel right here."

The others turned and noticed that Ryuunosuke's panel had indeed moved forward, positioning him exactly beside Takeru, while an empty panel now resides on Kotoha's left.

"Could it be for him?" Kotoha asked

"What is this?" Chiaki asked as well.

"Explanations later, focus on the enemy for now," Takeru replied.

Everyone turned their attention back on the Gedoushuu, with Shinken-Oh pointing its sword at the Oonanashi, all of whom flinched and took a step back.

"Don't falter, you useless pawns! Attack!" Yanasudare ordered.

The Oonanashi archers took aim and fired.

"Kabuto Cannon!"

Heeding Takeru's command, Shinken-Oh fired three beams of energy from its new helmet, destroying the arrows headed its way and also taking out the archers. The melee Oonanashis charged forward, but Shinken-Oh swiftly sliced its way through them, with the Kabuto Origami's legs that are now its pauldrons serving as extra blades to take down any of the Oonanashi that were not struck by its sword. It then turned around and fired another triple beam, blasting away the surviving Oonanashi until none were left before turning again to face Yanasudare.

"What is this? But never mind, for your blade can never cut me!" Yanasudare said.

"That is true," Takeru replied as he had Shinken-Oh sheath its blade.

"You're keeping away your weapon? As useless as a sitting duck!"

Yanasudare fired at Shinken-Oh, but the Kabuto helmet fired its triple beam attack again, blasting Yanasudare off his feet and destroying his firearm as well.

"My weapon!" the Ayakashi roared in pain.

"We'll finish you without our blade! Everyone, get ready!"

Shinken-Oh got down on one knee and braced itself as the Kabuto helmet closed up, covering the mecha's entire head. Meanwhile, inside its cockpit, the Shinkengers had drawn their Shinkenmarus

"Kabuto! Daikaiten Hou!" everyone commanded together as they spun the disks on their Shinkenmaru.

The horns of the Kabuto helmet began spinning rapidly as energy began building up in them while Yanasudare, suddenly realizing the useless position he was in, could only gasp in fear.

" _Hassha_!"

The Shinkengers thrusted their weapons forward, and Kabuto Shinken-Oh fired a huge energy ball from its helmet at Yanasudare.

"How futile I was!" were the last words of Yanasudare as the energy ball blasted its way through his body, dissipating as it emerged from his back right before he screamed and exploded while Shinken-Oh posed victoriously.

"This brings this act to a close!" Takeru declared.

"Yes! We did it!"

"Thank goodness…"

Instead of sharing in the celebrations of his teammates, Takeru was once again deep in thought as he stared at the Kabuto Disk…

* * *

"I swear, I had no idea my Fukurou Origami was responsible for combining the other auxiliary Origami to Shinken-Oh. Looks like I'll have to accompany you guys to the field for every battle now, do I?" Zenjiro said as he and the samurai walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, and it'll be dangerous bringing someone who can fight but can't transform with us, but since you're good at hiding in the shadows, I guess we do not have to worry too much," Ryuunosuke replied.

"But an extra panel appeared in the cockpit when we did that combination… I think it was meant for you, Zenjiro," Chiaki commented.

"An extra panel? No way. Maybe for the Kabuto?"

"Nah, it was marked with a black trapezium, like your Origami."

"Then that means Zenjiro-kun must be a samurai as well! You should fight alongside us!" Kotoha said to Zenjiro, who merely scratched his head.

"I'm no samurai… But I am already fighting alongside you guys. I maintain your equipment in tip-top shape so that you can go into battle without worrying about equipment failure, heal your wounds and help the kuroko evacuate civilians so you do not have to worry about casualties. What more do you need?"

"But are you certain you are content remaining as a blacksmith? Or maybe it's your clan's history?" Mako asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just a thought based on a whim, no need to worry about that."

"Speaking of whim, what about you guys' day off? I mean, that muda muda guy ruined it for you all, and he didn't even go 'Wryyyy' when he exploded…" Zenjiro asked.

"Oh, right! About that, _tono-sama_ , let's go to the amusement park together this time!" Kotoha said to Takeru cheerfully.

"Since it was ruined, we should redo our day off!" Ryuunosuke said in agreement.

"Nope. I'm fine with it. You guys go on ahead and enjoy yourselves. Zenjiro can come with you this time. I'm going back home first," Takeru replied curtly, not even turning his head to look at them before he walked off, leaving the others to wonder why he insisted on not joining them.

"I dunno, man. He really is hard to grasp," Chiaki complained.

"Or rather… He's trying to avoid getting caught, right?" Mako asked as she nudged Zenjiro with her elbow, with the blacksmith sighing, letting out a defeated smile and nodding.

"Huh?"

The other three samurai stared at Mako and Zenjiro, but Mako began walking ahead of the others.

"Don't worry about it. It was just a feeling, nothing more," she told the others, who merely looked at each other, then at Zenjiro as they suspect he knew what she was talking about, but the blacksmith merely shrugged before following Mako, prompting them to give up trying to figure out what was going on and followed as well.

* * *

Hikoma was waiting at the stairs of the shrine behind the Shiba Mansion as Takeru, who was actually getting weaker and weaker with each step, finally arrived.

"Ji…" was all Takeru could muster out before he started to collapse.

" _Tono_! _Tono_!" Hikoma called out in worry as he rushed over and managed to catch Takeru from falling over.

"To be honest… I was really afraid… If I had failed, it would all have been over…"

Hikoma thought back to Takeru's childhood as the young lord spoke to him with a quivering voice he had not heard for so long, realizing that at the moment, it was not Shiba Takeru, eighteenth head of the Shiba Clan, that was in his arms, but the frightened young boy who, at the age of seven, was forced to take up a huge responsibility for the sake of the entire world.

"You did well, _tono_ … You have done well," Hikoma said to Takeru, who let out a small smile before passing out, the strain from his injuries as well as the amount of energy required to control the Kabuto Origami finally taking its toll on him…

* * *

_The eighteenth head of the Shiba Clan is still young, but carries a heavy burden._

_As long as he continues wearing his mask, when will the other five finally see his true face?_

_Shinkengers Act 5 ends here…_


End file.
